The European squid or common squid (''Loligo vulgaris'') is a large squid belonging to the family

Loliginidae Loliginidae, commonly known as pencil squids, is an aquatic family of squid classified in the order Myopsida. Taxonomy The family Loliginidae was formerly classified in the order Teuthida. Taxonomic list The classification below follows ...

. It occurs abundantly in coastal waters from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

to at least the west coast of Africa. This species lives from sea level to depths of . Its mantle is up to long. The species is extensively exploited by commercial fisheries. ''

Loligo reynaudii ''Loligo reynaudii'', commonly known as the Cape Hope squid, is a 20–30 cm long squid belonging to the family Loliginidae. In South Africa it is known as either ''calamari'' or ''chokka''. It was previously treated as a subspecies of '' ...

'', the Cape Hope squid, was previously treated as a subspecies of ''L. vulgaris''.

Description

Calamares, Aquarium Finisterrae, A Coruña

Loligo vulgaris with captured Sparus aurata

The European squid has a long, moderately slender and cylindrical body. Rhomboid fins comprise two-thirds of the mantle length, though locomotion is via

jet propulsion Jet propulsion is the propulsion of an object in one direction, produced by ejecting a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. By Newton's third law, the moving body is propelled in the opposite direction to the jet. Reaction engines operatin ...

. The posterior border is slightly concave. The head is relatively small and has large eyes which are covered with a transparent membrane. Like almost all squid, this species has ten limbs surrounding the mouth and

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...

: eight are relatively short arms, and two, which form the

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work ma ...

s, are long, as they are used to catch prey. The fourth left arm of males is a

hectocotylus A hectocotylus (plural: ''hectocotyli'') is one of the arms of male cephalopods that is specialized to store and transfer spermatophores to the female. Structurally, hectocotyli are muscular hydrostats. Depending on the species, the male may use i ...

. The European squid can grow up to 30–40 cm in the mantle length, but more usually they are 15–25 cm long. The males are generally bigger than the females and exhibit more rapid rates of growth. The colour of the European squid is greyish-transparent or reddish, depending on the expansion of

chromatophore Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. Mammals and birds, in contrast, ...

s in the dermis. Males have small chromatophores on their mantle.''Loligo vulgaris'' (Lamarck, 1798)
AdriaMed.

Habitat and distribution

The European squid is a

neritic The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...

, semi demersal species, which undertakes distinct horizontal and vertical migrations, depending on the environment. In the

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

, European squid can be found above various substrates, from sandy through to the muddy bottoms. ''L. vulgaris'' is found throughout the Mediterranean and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the

to the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...

. In British waters, it is mainly found in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

, along the south coast of England, and off northern Scotland.Grid map of records on the Gateway for ''Loligo vulgaris''
NBN Gateway.

Biology

This species can be found at depths from the surface to about 500 m, but it is most abundant between 20 and 250 m (deeper during the winter). The population in the northeastern Atlantic spends the winter in deeper waters off Portugal, then moves towards the coast of France in spring, before migrating farther north into the North Sea during May and June where they spawn in depths ranging from 20 to 80 m. A southward migration takes place in autumn. The population found off

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

and

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

similarly spends the winter in deeper offshore waters and moves inshore to spawn in spring and autumn. The main juvenile recruitment is in February and March and between July and September. In the western Mediterranean, European squid move into deeper water in late autumn; the largest individuals commence their inshore migration as early as in January and February, while the smaller individuals wait until summer. The spawning season extends for most of the year, but climaxes in early summer and early autumn. Females lay up to 20,000 small eggs, which are deposited in gelatinous tubes containing tens of eggs each. These tubes are attached to debris and other solid objects on sandy to muddy bottoms. The incubation period is dependent on temperature and is between 25 days (at 22 °C) and 45 days (at 12 to 14 °C). The size of the male determines the number (up to 800) and size of

spermatophore A spermatophore or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especially salamanders and arthropods, and transferred in entirety to the female's ovipore during reproduction. Spermatophores ...

s. Males that are reproducing for the second time usually carry more than those reproducing for the first time. File:Loligo vulgaris eggs.jpg, Egg mass File:Loligo vulgaris embryo2.jpg, Embryo File:Loligo vulgaris embryo.jpg, Embryo File:Loligo vulgaris (juvenile - ventral).jpg, Juvenile Growth in both sexes is temperature-dependent and is therefore faster in summer than in winter; the males grow faster than females. In the Atlantic, young squid hatched in June reach a mantle length of around 12 cm by December and grow to 13 or 14 cm by the following April. By August, males attain a mantle length of 17.5 cm and, if they reach the following April, 21 cm, compared to 17 cm in females. Life expectancy is 2 years in females and about 3 years in males.Vecchione, M. & R.E. Young (2010)
''Loligo vulgaris'' Lamarck 1798

Tree of Life Web Project The Tree of Life Web Project is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth. This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The site ...

. European squid are predators on fishes and crustaceans. Cannibalism is common.

Fisheries

The European squid is a commercially valuable species. It is caught in multispecies trawl fishing throughout the year and, seasonally, in small scale and recreational fishing with a variety of gear. In the

, the total annual catch of the species is around 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes. This is very variable and is probably linked to the annual reproduction cycle that is typical for many cephalopods.

References

* Vecchione, M., E. Shea, S. Bussarawit, F. Anderson, D. Alexeyev, C.-C. Lu, T. Okutani, M. Roeleveld, C. Chotiyaputta, C. Roper, E. Jorgensen & N. Sukramongkol. (2005). ''Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin'' 66: 23–26.

External links

(''Loligo vulgaris reynaudi'') (''Loligo vulgaris vulgaris'')
Charles Maxwell videos
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1232698 Squid Cephalopods described in 1798 Marine molluscs of Europe Cephalopods of Europe