Butterfly Bobtail Squid

Taxobox
name = Butterfly Bobtail Squid


image_width = 195px
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Cephalopoda
ordo = Sepiolida
familia = Sepiolidae
subfamilia = Heteroteuthinae
genus = "Stoloteuthis"
species = "S. leucoptera"
binomial = "Stoloteuthis leucoptera"
binomial_authority = (Verrill, 1878)
synonyms =
*"Sepiola leucoptera"
Verrill, 1878

The Butterfly Bobtail Squid ("Stoloteuthis leucoptera") is a widespread species of bobtail squid. Its natural range covers the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and southwestern Indian Ocean. It is distributed from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Straits of Florida in the western Atlantic and in the Bay of Biscay in the eastern Atlantic. In the Mediterranean Sea, it is specifically found in the northern and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Ligurian Sea, and off Gorgona Island. "S. leucoptera" has also been recorded from the Benguela Current off Namibia. There exist unverified records of specimens off eastern Tasmania.Reid, A. & P. Jereb 2005. Family Sepiolidae. "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. 153–203.]

On average, females are slightly larger than males. They grow to 18 mm and 17 mm in mantle lentgth, respectively.

References

External links

* [http://tolweb.org/Stoloteuthis_leucoptera/27774 Tree of Life: Stoloteuthis leucoptera]