Psychroteuthis Glacialis Paralarva2
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''Psychroteuthis glacialis'', the glacial squid, is the only known species in the
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
genus ''Psychroteuthis'', in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Psychroteuthidae. While only one species has been confirmed, two undescribed species also probably exist. The species occurs in
coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...
al waters near
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. It grows to a mantle length of .Roper C.F.E., M.J. Sweeney & C.E. Nauen 1984. ''Cephalopods of the world''. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.


Ecology

''P. glacialis'' is known to feed on many
crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...
s,
fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
,
lanternfish Lanternfish (or myctophids, from the Greek language, Greek μυκτήρ ''myktḗr'', "nose" and ''ophis'', "serpent") are small mesopelagic fish of the large family (biology), family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, ...
,
Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctica, Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000 ...
, and
Antarctic silverfish The Antarctic silverfish (''Pleuragramma antarctica''), or Antarctic herring, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Nototheniidae, the notothens or cod icefishes. It is native to the Southern Ocean and the only truly pela ...
, and has been known to practice
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...
. Animals known to routinely feed on glacial squid include the
Antarctic petrel The Antarctic petrel (''Thalassoica antarctica'') is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They eat Antarctic krill, fish, and small squid. They feed while swimming but can ...
,
light-mantled albatross The light-mantled albatross (''Phoebetria palpebrata'') also known as the grey-mantled albatross or the light-mantled sooty albatross, is a small albatross in the genus ''Phoebetria'', which it shares with the sooty albatross. The light-mantled ...
,
Ross seal The Ross seal (''Ommatophoca rossii'') is a true seal (family Phocidae) with a range confined entirely to the pack ice of Antarctica. It is the only species of the genus ''Ommatophoca''. First described during the Ross expedition in 1841, it is ...
,
southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...
,
Weddell seal The Weddell seal (''Leptonychotes weddellii'') is a relatively large and abundant Earless seal, true seal with a Subantarctic, circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expediti ...
,
Patagonian toothfish The Patagonian toothfish (''Dissostichus eleginoides''), also known as Chilean sea bass, mero, and icefish, is a species of notothen found in cold waters () between depths of in the southern Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and Southern ...
,
wandering albatross The snowy albatross (''Diomedea exulans''), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are la ...
,
grey-headed albatross The grey-headed albatross (''Thalassarche chrysostoma'') also known as the gray-headed mollymawk, is a large seabird from the albatross family. It has a circumpolar distribution, nesting on isolated islands in the Southern Ocean and feeding at h ...
, the
Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...
, and the
emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...
.


Distribution

The squid inhabits the
pelagic zone The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...
of the
southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
. It is found in depths of .


References


External links


Tree of Life web project: ''Psychroteuthis glacialis''
Oegopsida Cephalopods described in 1920 Molluscs of the Southern Ocean Taxa named by Johannes Thiele (zoologist) {{squid-stub