Little is known about the biology of any species of Asperoteuthis. The most peculiar feature of this genus is the structure of the tentacular clubs. The distal part of the club has typical suckers and suggests that this part of the club functions in the usual capture of prey. The proximal part of the club lacks suckers and has broader protective membranes whose trabeculae are mostly fused. The function of the latter is less clear but relates to another problem: How can the long and extremely slender tentacles, which in A. acanthoderma can be 7-12 times the mantle length (Tsuchiya and Okutani, 1993), be deployed? Perhaps the wide protective membranes of the proximal region of the club, which are composed virtually entirely of muscular trabeculae, function as muscular fins that swim the club into position. THIS NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN !!
- Arms
- Long, generally subequal in length in large subadults with arms IV slightly longer.
- Long, generally subequal in length in large subadults with arms IV slightly longer.
- Tentacles
- Club divided into two portions by symmetrical protective membranes.
- Suckers only on distal portion of club.
Figure. Oral view of tentacular club of Asperoteuthis acanthoderma. Drawing by J. R. Schroeder.
- Head
- Olfactory organ located well posterior to each eye.
- Olfactory organ located well posterior to each eye.
- Funnel
- Funnel valve present.
- Funnel component of the funnel-mantle locking-apparatus variable; with inverted Y-shaped groove that poorly defines an elongate tragus and slender antitragus (A. acanthoderma) or a slender antitragus and a strong antitragus (A. lui) or a curved groove without an antitragus (A. mangoldi).
Figure. Ventral view of the funnel locking-apparatus. Left - A. acanthoderma. Drawing by J. R. Schroeder. Middle - A. lui. Drawing from Braid (2016). Right - A. mangoldae. Drawing from Young, et al. (2007).