This species is one of several in the Onychoteuthis banksii complex from Hawaiian waters. Seki (unpublished) recognized species D as distinct from the others based on the oval-shaped posterior intestinal photophore; all other forms in the Onychoteuthis banksii complex have circular intestinal photophores.
Diagnosis
An Onychoteuthis species...
- with one oval posterior and one circular anterior intestinal photophore.
- with tentacle club length 25-30% ML.
- with large, oro-lateral-directed spikes on the distal ventral hooks.
- without chromatophores along the ventral ridge on the oral surface of the tentacle stalk.
- with chromatophores on all portions of the mantle ventrally (no 'bald spot').
- with fleshy knobs on the distal margin of the arm suckers.
Tentacle club
- Length ~29% ML, with 20–24 long, robust, strongly recurved hooks.
- Bases of hooks V7 or V8 through distal-most produced into pronounced ventral spike.
Photophores
- Posterior intestinal photophore circular, well defined; anterior photophore oval to tear-drop-shaped, ill defined, minute to indiscernible.
- Ocular photophore a long whitish patch on ventral surface of each eyeball.
Measurements of holotype
-
- Mantle length - 94 mm
- Arm lengths - 33-45 mm
- Fin length - 55 mm
- Fin width - 63 mm
- Club length - 30 mm (right)
- Club hook numbers - 22
- Largest hooks - Hooks V6-V8
Onychoteuthis lacrima. © K.S. Bolstad
Bolstad, K.S. 2008. Two new species and a review of the squid genus Onychoteuthis Lichtenstein, 1818 (Oegopsida: Onychoteuthidae) from the Pacific Ocean. Bulletin of Marine Science, 83: 481–529.
Seki, M.P. 2001. Distribution patterns of pelagic cephalopods through the Subarctic and Subtropical Frontal Zones in the central North Pacific. Thesis (MSc), University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii: 102 pp.
Taxonomy
- Class
- Cephalopoda
- Superorder
- Decapodiformes
- Order
- Oegopsida
- Family
- Onychoteuthidae
- Genus
- Onychoteuthis