Family BATHYTEUTHIDAE

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Introduction

Members of the monogeneric family Bathyteuthidae Pfeffer, 1900 are small squid, less than 75 mm mantle length (ML)) with round or paddle-like subterminal fins. They are rarely caught, except in Antarctic waters.

Bathyteuthis was first recorded from eastern Australian waters by Lu & Phillips (1985). Worldwide three species are known (Roper 1969; Roper & Jereb 2010) and one species has been recorded from Australian waters (Lu & Phillips 1985). Because so few specimens have been collected so far, no studies of life span or growth of Bathyteuthis have been undertaken in Australian waters or elsewhere and neither its diet nor predators are known.

Bathyteuthids are not vertical migrators and most specimens have been caught between 1000 and 2500 m (Roper & Young 1975). Small adult size and rarity preclude this family from commercial fisheries interest.

Diagnosis

Bathyteuthids have a simple, straight funnel locking cartilage and arm suckers in irregular rows. The tentacular club is small with numerous rows of minute suckers and the buccal connectives attach dorsally to the ventral arms. A single light organ is embedded at the base of each of the dorsal, dorso-lateral and lateral arms.

General References

Lu, C.C. & Phillips, J.U. 1985. An annotated checklist of Cephalopoda from Australian waters. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Victoria 2: 21-36

Roper, C.F.E. 1969. Systematics and zoogeography of the worldwide bathypelagic squid genus Bathyteuthis (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida). Bulletin of the United States National Museum 291: 1-210 pls 1-12

Roper, C.F.E. & Jereb, P. 2010. Family Bathyteuthidae. pp. 124-126 in Jereb, P. & Roper, C.F.E. (Eds). Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid Squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4. Rome : FAO Vol. 2 pp. 1-605. [124] (diagnostic features)

Roper, C.F.E. & Young, R.E. 1975. Vertical distribution of pelagic cephalopods. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 209: 1-51

Common Name References

Roper, C.F.E. & Jereb, P. 2010. Family Bathyteuthidae. pp. 124-126 in Jereb, P. & Roper, C.F.E. (Eds). Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid Squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4. Rome : FAO Vol. 2 pp. 1-605. [124] (Deepsea Squids)

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