''Onykia robusta'', also known as the robust clubhook squid and often cited by the older name ''Moroteuthis robusta'', is a species of

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

in the family

Onychoteuthidae The hooked squid, family (biology), family Onychoteuthidae, currently comprise about 20–25 species (several known from only single life stages and thus unconfirmed), in six or seven genus, genera. They range in mature mantle (mollusc), mantle l ...

. Reaching a mantle length of Norman, M.D. 2000. ''Cephalopods: A World Guide''. ConchBooks. it is the largest member of its family and one of the largest of all cephalopods. The largest specimen with reliable catch data was found in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

, a male with a total length of and weighing . The tentacular clubs are slender, containing 15–18 club hooks.

Arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

of the species contain 50–60 suckers, and grow to 90–100% of the mantle length. It is found primarily in the boreal to

Temperate Northern Pacific The Temperate Northern Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate waters of the northern Pacific Ocean.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marine Ecoregions of the World ...

Genetic diversity

''O. robusta'' has a low

genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. It is d ...

, similar to the

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

''Architeuthis dux''.

Confusion with ''Architeuthis''

Some time before 1993, a large individual of ''O. robusta'' was photographed by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese diver Kubota H. in shallow water off southern

.Ellis, R. 1998. ''The Search for the Giant Squid''. The Lyons Press. In this image, the animal, which appears to be sick or dying, is shown with a diver, although the use of a

wide-angle lens In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens is a Photographic lens, lens covering a large angle of view. Conversely, its focal length is substantially smaller than that of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows mo ...

exaggerates its size. A video of the same squid appears in a Japanese made-for-television film. The image was published in the 1993 book ''European Seashells'' by Guido T. Poppe and Goto Yoshihiro, where it was identified as ''Architeuthis dux'', the

, and said to have been taken in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

.Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto. 1993. ''European Seashells''. Hemmen. If true, this image would represent the earliest known photograph of a live giant squid. In '' The Search for the Giant Squid'' (1998), Richard Ellis wrote of this photograph:

"For a moment, I thought that some obscure photograph had captured the most elusive image in natural history. Fortunately for those who have devoted their lives to searching for ''Architeuthis'', this was only an aberration, a case of mistaken identity."

More than a decade later, the first photographs of a true live giant squid in the wild were taken, on September 30, 2004.Kubodera, T. & K. Mori. 2005. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences'', 272(1581):2583–2586.

References

* Chambers, S. 2008
It’s a sea monster! (Sort of)
''The World Link'', June 3, 2008.
Third-largest cephalopod
'' Siuslaw News'', August 4, 2008.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2934325 Onykia Cephalopods described in 1876 Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean

Genetic diversity

Confusion with ''Architeuthis''

See also

References

External links