Ancistroteuthis lichtensteinii (Férussac, 1835)

Introduction

Ancistroteuthis is monotypic. Kubodera et al. (1998), however, briefly described a new form of the species from the Central Atlantic. A. lichtensteinii is best known from the Mediterranean Sea. There, males mature at about 200 mm ML and the species reaches a maximum size of 300 mm ML (Kubodera et al. 1998). This species is very similar to species of Onychoteuthis but is most easily distinguished by the absence of a visible gladius along the mid-dorsal line and the absence of photophores.

Brief diagnosis:

An onychoteuthid ...

• without gladius visible beneath skin in dorsal midline.
• with 8-10 occipital folds.
• without suckers on distal portion of club before terminal pad.
• without photophores.

Characteristics

1. Tentacles
1. Distal suckers on club restricted to terminal pad.


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Figure. Oral view of club tip, A. lichtensteinii, type A, 110 mm ML, USNM 294756. Photograph by R. Young.

2. Head
   1. Beaks: Descriptions can be found here: Lower beak; upper beak.
      
      
   2. Occipital folds number 10 (Naef, 1921-23) or 8 - 9 (Kubodera, et al., 1998) on either side of head.
      
      

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      Figure. Left photographs - Lateral and dorsoblique views of the occipital folds, A. lichtensteinii, Type A, preserved, 110 mm ML, 20°27'N, 21°58'W, USNM 294756. Photograph by R. Young.. The white arrows point to occipital fold number 3. Right drawings - Dorsal and lateral views of head and occipital folds, A. lichtensteinii, 145 mm ML, Mediterranean Sea. Drawings from Pfeffer, 1912.

3. Photophores
   1. Photophores absent.
      
      
4. Gladius
   1. Gladius not visible on dorsal side of mantle (i.e., mantle muscle completely surrounds gladius - see title illustrations).

Comments

Kubodera et al. (1998) stated that an oval, opaque area with a small posterior patch of photogenic tissue is present on the ventral covering of the eye. We believe this tissue likely to be iridescent (but not photogenic); observation of live specimens will be necessary to draw any further conclusions.

Kubodera et al. (1998) also briefly described four geographical morphotypes, three forms in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. The South Atlantic and South Pacific forms, however, belong to Notonykia africanae (Nesis et al. 1998) and Notonykia nesisi (Bolstad 2007) respectively. The other two of their forms are mentioned here as Type A (typical A. lichtensteinii) and Type B; the most distinctive feature of the latter is the rhomboidal, non-attenuate shape of the fins. Insufficient information is available at present to evaluate the significance of these differences.

Life History

Paralarvae have not been described. The smallest described specimen is 16 mm ML. Even at this small size, the mantle covers the gladius at least in its anterior half. The eyes, unlike those of Onychoteuthis at this size, do not have luminous organs on the ventral surface of the eyeball. The conus has a spoon-shape rather than the cone-shape seen in Onychoteuthis. The row of large brownish-red chromatophores on the dorsal midline is probably characteristic. The specimen showed traces of an iridescent metallic sheen, greenish on the mantle and dark blue on the head. This description is from Naef (1921-23).

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Figure. Dorsal and ventral views of juvenile A. lichtensteinii. Left - 16 mm ML. Drawings from Naef (1921-23). Right - Dorsal, side and ventral views. Photographs by R. Young. The significance of the differences in chromatophore patterns is unknown.

Distribution

The type locality is the Western Mediterranean. This species has been reported from the western Mediterranean, and tropical and subtropical waters of the eastern Atlantic and off Nova Scotia in the western North Atlantic (Vecchione and Pohle, 2002). The records outside the Mediterranean are very sparse. This species has also been reported from the Gulf of Mexico (Voss, 1956) and the southwestern Pacific (Rancurel, 1970), but these identifications are questionable because in both cases the specimens lacked numerous occipital folds. These squids may be young Onykia (Kubodera, et al., 1998, their Moroteuthis).

Other Names for Ancistroteuthis lichtensteinii (Férussac, 1835)

• Ancistroteuthis Gray, 1849

References

Bolstad, K.S. 2007. Systematics and distribution of the New Zealand onychoteuthid fauna (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida), including a new species, Notonykia nesisi sp. nov. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 17: 305–335.

Kubodera, T., U. Piatkowski, T. Okutani and M.R. Clarke. 1998. Taxonomy and Zoogeography of the Family Onychoteuthidae (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, No. 586: 277-291.

Naef, A. 1921-23. Cephalopoda. Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel. Monograph, no. 35. English translation: A. Mercado (1972). Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel. 863pp., IPST Cat. No. 5110/1,2.

Nesis, K. N., M. A. C. Roeleveld and I. V. Nikitina. 1998. A new genus and species of onychoteuthid squid from the Southern Ocean. Ruthenica 8:153-168.

Pfeffer, G. 1912. Die Cephalopoden der Plankton-Expedition. Zugleich eine Monographische Übersicht der Oegopsiden Cephalopoden. Ergebniss der Plankton-Expedition der Humboldt-Stiftung, 2:1-815.

Rancurel, P. l970. Les Contenus Stomacaux d'Alepisaurus ferox dans le Sud-Ouest Pacifique (Cephalopodes). Cahiers O.R.S.T.O.M., serie Oceanographie, 8(4):3-87.

Vecchione, M. and G. Pohle. 2002. Midwater cephalopods in the western North Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia. Bull. Mar. Sci. 71(2):883-892.

Voss, G.L. 1956. A Review of the Cephalopods of the Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean, 6(2):85-178.