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Moroteuthopsis ingens

O. ingens reaches a length of at least 500 mm ML (Kubodera, et al., 1998) and is found in circumpolar but mostly sub-Antarctic waters.

Brief diagnosis:

An Onykia ...

  • with rhomboidal fins (ie fins not drawn-out posteriorly).
  • with warts on the skin.
  • with rostrum of gladius having a triangular cross-section.

Tentacles

  1. Club with usually 14 pairs of hooks (range - 13-16 hooks, dorsal series, 13-15, ventral series).

    Oingens Club1.jpg

Figure. Oral view of tentacular club of O. ingens. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

Mantle

  1. Ventral mantle with soft, irregular warts.

Oingens Skin2.jpg

Figure. A piece of ventral mantle skin of O. ingens. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

Fins

  1. Rhomboidal shape, not drawn out into a tail.
  2. Length 50-60% of ML.
  3. Width 60-70% of ML.

Gladius

  1. Maximum width of vanes ca. 11% of gladius length (to tip of conus).
  2. Rostrum 11-12% of the ML, triangular in cross-section.
    O Ingens Gladius.jpg
    Figure. Ventral view of gladius of O. ingens with cross-sections. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

This species is circumpolar in sub-Antarctic waters. A map of its distribution is found here.

The tentacular club of a young O. ingens, 77mm ML has a few marginal suckers still remaining on the proximal dorsal margin and on the distal ventral margin.

O.ingens Club Young.jpg

Figure. Oral view of tentacular club of O. ingens, 77 mm ML. Drawing from Tsuchiya and Okutani, 1981, p. 145, Fig. 35.

Dubinina (1980) described a juvenile squid from the Southwest Atlantic as Onykia robsoni (drawing to the right) but according to C. Nigmatullin (personal communication) it probably is a young O. ingens. The scale bar is 1 mm.

Onykia Ingens Juv1.gif
Figure. Ventral and dorsal views, probably, of O. ingens, 13 mm ML. Drawing from Dubinina (1980).

Onykia ingens

Clarke, M. R. 1980. Cephalopoda in the diet of sperm whales of the Southern Hemisphere and their bearing on sperm whale biology. Discovery Reports, 37: 1-324.

 

Dubinina, T. S. 1980. On a finding of a larvae Moroteuthis robsoni (Oegopsida, Onychoteuthidae) in South-west Atlantic.

 

T. Kubodera, 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.

 

Tsuchiya, K., and T. Okutani. 1991. Growth Stages of Moroteuthis robusta (Verrill, 1881) with the Re-evaluation of the Genus. Bulletin of Marine Science, 49(1/2):137-147.

Taxonomy

Superorder
Decapodiformes