''Alloteuthis subulata'', the European common squid, is a species of squid in the family

Loliginidae Loliginidae, commonly known as pencil squids, is an aquatic family of squid classified in the order Myopsida. Taxonomy The family Loliginidae was formerly classified in the order Teuthida. Taxonomic list The classification below follows V ...

Distribution

''Alloteuthis subulata'' is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean as far south as North-west Africa, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, the western

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

, and

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. In British waters, it has a southernly bias to its distribution but has been found as far north as the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven ...

and the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

Description

''Alloteuthis subulata'' has a long, narrow mantle with a long tail which is pointed in adult females and even longer and rather spike-like in adult males. The fins are rhomboid-shaped, with pointed sides, and their rear ends are concave and extend along the tail. The short

tentacles 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 mai ...

are delicate, with small, narrow clubs. Its color is normally pale grey with many brown or purplish spots. Length is up to 21 cm and the maximum mantle length is 14 cm.

Habitat

''Alloteuthis subulata'' is usually associated with the water column above sandy and hard bottoms.

Biology

The males and females arrive together in inshore waters of the

in early summer. The spawning season is restricted to June and July. Eggs are covered in gel and laid in strings, which are attached to hard objects on the seabed. The eggs hatch after about 2 weeks when the juveniles are 2 mm long. They first appear in plankton samples towards the end of July; after about 15 to 30 days, they switch to a

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a laye ...

mode of life. In November, when they are 3 months old and about 3 cm in length, they move out of the North Sea, returning the following spring, by which time they will have attained a length of about 5 cm. The life expectancy is between 1 and 2 years. The species feeds on small and juvenile fishes.

Fisheries

''Alloteuthis subulata'' is normally taken as bycatch in trawl fisheries for other species throughout its range. In the Mediterranean Sea, the species is normally caught between 20 and 120 m depth over sandy-muddy substrates. Squid so caught may be marketed fresh and frozen. There are no separate statistics reported for this species, as catches are not reported separately from ''

Alloteuthis media ''Alloteuthis media'', the midsize squid or little squid, is a species of squid in the family Loliginidae from the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. It is generally a by-catch species in trawl fisheries, although there is an active fis ...

''.

References

* Vecchione, M., E. Shea, S. Bussarawit, F. Anderson, D. Alexeyev, C.-C. Lu, T. Okutani, M. Roeleveld, C. Chotiyaputta, C. Roper, E. Jorgensen & N. Sukramongkol. (2005). ''Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin'' 66: 23–26. {{Taxonbar, from=Q13429093, from2=Q2366335 Squid Cephalopods of Europe Marine molluscs of Europe Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Cephalopods described in 1798 Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck