''Asperoteuthis acanthoderma'' is a large species of

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Chiroteuthidae The Chiroteuthidae are a family of deep-sea squid, generally small to medium in size, rather soft and gelatinous, and slow moving. They are found in most temperate and tropical oceans, but are known primarily from the North Atlantic, North Paci ...

. It is characterised by the tiny, pointed

tubercules In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection, ...

present on its skin and a Y-shaped groove in the funnel locking apparatus. The largest recorded specimen measured in

mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

length (ML), although its original total length is unknown as it was missing the very delicate feeding

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s. A smaller specimen, ML, had tentacles 12 times the length of its mantle, giving a total length of almost .Tsuchiya, K. & T. Okutani 1993. Rare and interesting squids in Japan -X. Recent occurrences of big squids from Okinawa. ''Venus'' 52: 299-311. This makes ''A. acanthoderma'' one of the longest known

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda ( Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, ...

s. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

of ''A. acanthoderma'' was collected in the

Celebes Sea The Celebes Sea, (; ms, Laut Sulawesi, id, Laut Sulawesi, fil, Dagat Selebes) or Sulawesi Sea, of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east b ...

and is deposited at the

Zoologisk Museum The Copenhagen Zoological Museum (Danish: ''Zoologisk Museum'') is a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, which is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen. History The Zoological Museum It is among the world's oldest natural hist ...

Københavns Universitet The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. ''A. acanthoderma'' is also known from waters off the Cayman Islands, the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

. The first known specimen from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

was found by a charter fisherman while floating in deep water off the southern coast of

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

on 20 February 2007.Lee, C.E. 2007
Rare squid draws attention Mote shows off elusive creature
'' Sarasota Herald-Tribune'', 10 May 2007. It measured ML and is thought to have been long when intact.Raloff, J. 2007
It's a Girl: Atlantic mystery squid undergoes scrutiny
''Science News'' 171(11): 165. Although an incomplete specimen, missing most of its tentacles, it weighed and measured in total length. In 2007,

teuthologist Teuthology (from Greek , "cuttlefish, squid", and , ''-logia'') is the study of cephalopods such as octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.

Richard E. Young stated that "probably fewer than 10" specimens of ''A. acanthoderma'' had ever been reported. However, since 2006 there has been an influx of new specimens from the

Caribbean Basin In Geography, the Caribbean Basin is generally defined as the area running from Florida westward along the Gulf coast, then south along the Mexican coast through Central America and then eastward across the northern coast of South America. This ...

and Atlantic. Four specimens were recorded between 2006 and 2007 (two from the

, one off

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

, and one off

Little Cayman Little Cayman is one of three Islands that make up the Cayman Islands. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, approximately 60 miles (96 km) northeast of East End, Grand Cayman and five miles (8 km) west of West End, Cayman Brac. Little ...

).Lollar, K. 2007
Big squid in Keys could be first outside Pacific
The News-Press. This was followed by another specimen from Little Cayman in May 2008 and another from Grand Cayman in September 2009. A large specimen around long was found floating at the surface off the Cayman Islands in 2013.Giant squid found in Cayman head to US museum
. Cayman News Service, 22 October 2013. It was transported to the

University of South Florida St. Petersburg The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is a campus of the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, Florida. Opened in 1965 as a satellite campus of the University of South Florida, it was consolidated with the other two USF campus ...

on a Royal Caribbean cruise and later transferred to the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

This squid is known to be eaten by the

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus '' Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

blue shark The blue shark (''Prionace glauca''), also known as the great blue shark, is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, which inhabits deep waters in the world's temperate and tropical oceans. Averaging around and preferring c ...

silky shark The silky shark (''Carcharhinus falciformis''), also known by numerous names such as blackspot shark, gray whaler shark, olive shark, ridgeback shark, sickle shark, sickle-shaped shark and sickle silk shark, is a species of requiem shark, in the ...

swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfi ...

, and

wandering albatross The wandering albatross, snowy albatross, white-winged albatross or goonie (''Diomedea exulans'') is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the last species of albatross to be de ...

References

External links

Tree of Life web project: ''Asperoteuthis acanthoderma''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2432138 Squid Molluscs described in 1977

See also

References

External links