''Abraliopsis morisii'' is a species of bioluminescent

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

in the family

Enoploteuthidae The Enoploteuthidea are a family of squid comprising approximately 40 species in four genera. Most species have a mantle length ranging from 3–13 cm. Hooks are present on all arms and tentacles. The family is best known for the large ...

. The species occurs in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

to warm

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

waters in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, including the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

and 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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. It can be found in the

epipelagic The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...

and

mesopelagic zone The mesopelagic zone (Greek μέσον, middle), also known as the middle pelagic or twilight zone, is the part of the pelagic zone that lies between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones. It is defined by light, and begins ...

Jean Baptiste Vérany Chevalier Jean Baptiste Vérany (1800, in Nice – 1865) was a French pharmacist and naturalist who specialised in the study of cephalopods. In 1846, with Jean-Baptiste Barla (1817–1896), he founded the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Nice. V ...

described the species in 1839 and it reaches lengths of . It is rated as least concern by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN).

Description

Male specimens of ''A. morisii'' mature in between 120 and 130 days, and females mature in between 150 and 160 days; although, a mature female has been observed at 127 days and a mature male at 105 days. It occurs in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Its integumental photophores are scattered randomly and it has five ocular photophores. The hectocotylus contains a long flap at the ventral margin and a short flap at the dorsal margin. Mature males can reach a mantle length of and females may reach a mantle length of . Females may have between 6,500 and 21,000 oocytes, which are 1.0 to 1.1 mm long.

Distribution

This squid has been observed at depths of between in temperatures between . It has been found in areas with high nitrate, salinity, phosphate, and oxygen levels and also in areas with low silicate concentrations. It occurs over a large area and is classified as a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the IUCN.

Taxonomy

''Abraliopsis morisii'' was described by

in 1839 as ''Onychoteuthis morisii''. It is also known by the synonyms ''Abralia jattai'', ''Abralia lonnbergi'', ''Abralia mediterranea'', ''Abralia pfefferi'', ''Abraliopsis pfefferi'', ''Onychoteuthis morisii'', and ''Teleoteuthis caribaea''.

Gallery

File:Cccca.jpg, ''Abraliopsis morisii'' from

Carl Chun Carl Chun (1 October 1852 – 11 April 1914) was a German marine biologist. Chun was born in Höchst, today a part of Frankfurt, and studied zoology at the University of Leipzig, where from 1878 to 1883 he was privat-docent of zoology and an a ...

's ''Die Cephalopoden''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2821881 Abraliopsis Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Vérany Cephalopods described in 1839 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN