''Sepiola atlantica'', also known as the Atlantic bobtail, is a species of bobtail squid native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Description

''Sepiola atlantica'' has short fins which do not overlap the

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 ...

margin either anteriorly or posteriorly. The four arms have two series of suckers close to the body and 4 to 8 rows of minute suckers toward their tips. The remaining arms have two rows of suckers. A hectocotylus is present, the left dorsal arm is modified, the near end has a fleshy pad which is formed from enlarged and fused sucker pedicels with the copulatory apparatus being a large swollen horn, which has secondary lobes at its base; the dorsal row of suckers which are placed tword the tip from the copulatory apparatus has 3 or 4 slightly enlarged suckers with swollen pedicels, 3 or 4 vestigial suckers, then 3 to 5 greatly enlarged suckers roughly halfway along arm. The hectocotylised arm is strongly bent towards its tip. The tentacular club has transverse rows of 8 suckers. There is a pair of kidney-shaped photophores within the mantle cavity, one on each side of the animal's

ink sac An ink sac is an anatomical feature that is found in many cephalopod mollusks used to produce the defensive cephalopod ink. With the exception of nocturnal and very deep water cephalopods, all Coleoidea (squid, octopus and cuttlefish) which dwell ...

. Both sexes of ''S. atlantica'' grow to around in

length.

Distribution

''Sepiola atlantica'' has a

latitudinal In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

range from 65ºN to 35ºN, ranging from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and western Norway in the north south to the Moroccan coast. There is a single record of this species from the Mediterranean Sea, a mature male caught in the Tyrrhenian Sea at a depth of 90m.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 was collected in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

and is deposited at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Biology

''Sepiola atlantica'' is a small species which occurs in a variety of marine habitats extending from shallow water to the upper slope of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

. It is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

species but it has been recorded from the water column during both day and night. Like many species in the family

Sepiolidae Sepiolidae is a family of bobtail squid encompassing 15 genera in three or four subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive ...

, ''S. atlanticus'' possesses a

light organ A light organ is an electronic device which automatically converts an audio signal (such as music) into rhythmic light effects. In the 1970s, light organs were a popular lighting effect used in discotheques and dance parties; and also during that ...

which may be used to countershade the animal. The mature males have a fleshy bulb and enlarged suckers on the distal end of the left first arm. In Firemore Bay, Loch Ewe, off the coast of Scotland spawning appears has been recorded as occurring throughput the year, peaking in April and again in July to August. Related species of bobtail squid are benthic animals that typically hide by burying themselves in soft substrates in daytime, and then at night they emerge to feed. The resident population of Firemore Bay has a variable age composition, further suggesting that this species has an extended reproductive season. At this site juveniles are recorded throughout the year, however recruitment of juveniles into the population shows peaks in April and July to August. During mating, the male typically approaches the female, grasping the ventral region of the female's mantle while using the dorsal arm to transfer the spermatophores to the female's mantle cavity. Mating typically lasts from 68 to 80 minutes. During this time, the female may change in color or pattern, while the male's coloration generally stays constant. File:Baby Cuttlefish2 (5589806913).jpg, Hatchling File:Cuttlefish (5381129320).jpg, Preserved specimen File:Faroe stamp 409 ten armed squid.jpg, ''Sepiola atlantica'' appears on stamp FO 409 of the Faroe Islands

References

External links

Genetic Information on ''Sepiola atlantica''
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q292467 Bobtail squid Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Marine molluscs of Africa Marine molluscs of Europe Taxa named by Alcide d'Orbigny Cephalopods of Europe

Description

Distribution

Biology

References

Further reading

External links