Pacific Bobtail Squid

Taxobox
name = Pacific Bobtail Squid
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Cephalopoda
ordo = Sepiida
familia = Sepiadariidae
genus = "Sepioloidea"
species = "S. pacifica"
binomial = "Sepioloidea pacifica"
binomial_authority = (Kirk, 1882)
synonyms =
*"Sepiola pacifica"
Kirk, 1882

The Pacific Bobtail Squid ("Sepioloidea pacifica") is a species of cuttlefish native to the southern Pacific Ocean; it occurs off New Zealand in the west and in the Nazca and Sala y Gomez submarine ridges in the east.Reid, A. 2005. Family Sepiadariidae. "In:" P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper, eds. "Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 1. Chambered nautiluses and sepioids (Nautilidae, Sepiidae, Sepiolidae, Sepiadariidae, Idiosepiidae and Spirulidae)." FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 1. Rome, FAO. pp. 204–207.]

The length of the mantle is between 5 and 40 mm. The mantle is inverted bell-shaped, with semicircular fins at the sides, and the bases of attachment are long. The head and eyes are large but the arms are relatively short.Powell, A.W.B. 1979. "New Zealand Mollusca". William Collins Publishers Ltd., Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 0-00-216906-1]

Coloration is pale brown, spotted with numerous dark purplish chromatophores, and a broad purple patch over each eye.

The type specimen was collected off New Zealand and is deposited at the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington. [ [http://www.mnh.si.edu/cephs/newclass.pdf Current Classification of Recent Cephalopoda] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.deepseaphotography.com/data.php?id=29497 Deep sea photography]