''Sepietta petersi'', also known as the mysterious bobtail, is a species of

bobtail squid Bobtail squid (order Sepiolida) are a group of cephalopods closely related to cuttlefish. Bobtail squid tend to have a rounder mantle (mollusc), mantle than cuttlefish and have no cuttlebone. They have eight suckered arms and two tentacles and ar ...

native to the

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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. A doubtful record of ''S. petersi'' also exists from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

off

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

.Reid, A. & P. Jereb 2005. Family Sepiolidae. ''In:'' P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper, eds. ''Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 1. Chambered nautiluses and sepioids (Nautilidae, Sepiidae, Sepiolidae, Sepiadariidae, Idiosepiidae and Spirulidae)''. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 1. Rome, FAO. pp. 153–203. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

and is deposited at the Zoologiska Museet in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

.Current Classification of Recent Cephalopoda
/ref> ''S. petersi'' has been described as a doubtful species and was considered a

senior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''

Sepietta obscura ''Sepietta'' is a genus of bobtail squid comprising three species. Species *Genus ''Sepietta'' **'' Sepietta neglecta'', Elegant Bobtail **'' Sepietta obscura'' **''Sepietta oweniana'', Common Bobtail ''Sepietta petersi'', the mysterious bobtai ...

'' by

Kir Nesis Kir Nazimovich Nesis (9 January 1934 – 8 January 2003) was a Russian marine biologist and malacologist, specialising in cephalopods. Early life and education Nesis was born in Moscow on 9 January 1934 to an intellectual family, his father was an ...

.Nesis, K.N. 1987. ''Cephalopods of the World: squid, cuttlefish, octopuses and their allies''. Neptune City, New Jersey, T.F.H. Publications Inc. Ltd., 351 pp. A redescription of ''S. petersi'' and ''S. obscura'' is needed to determine the status of these two

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

. Other authorities consider it to be a synonym of ''

Sepietta oweniana ''Sepietta oweniana'' (common bobtail squid or common bobtail) is a common marine mollusc from the order ''Sepiida'', the cuttlefish. Common bobtails possess large, rounded pupils, eight arms each having biserial suckers and two arms with 32 t ...

''.

References

External links

Bobtail squid Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Marine molluscs of Africa Marine molluscs of Europe {{sepiolida-stub