''Grimalditeuthis bonplandi'' is a squid named after the

Grimaldi family The House of Grimaldi ( , also , , ) is the current reigning house of the Principality of Monaco. The house was founded in 1160 by Grimaldo Canella in Genoa and became the ruling house of Monaco when Francesco Grimaldi captured Monaco in 1297 ...

, reigning house of

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Prince Albert I Albert I (Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi; 13 November 1848 – 26 June 1922) was Prince of Monaco from 10 September 1889 until his death. He devoted much of his life to oceanography, exploration and science. Alongside his expeditions, Albert I ...

of Monaco was an amateur

teuthologist Teuthology (from Greek , " cuttlefish, squid", and , ''-logia'') is the study of cephalopods such as octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.

who pioneered the study of deep sea squids by collecting the 'precious regurgitations' of sperm whales. The specific name ''bonplandi'' refers to the French scientist

Aimé Bonpland Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their ex ...

. The squid was observed alive in the wild for the first time in 2005 in a study. ''Grimalditeuthis bonplandi'' is a bioluminescent species. This species shows an interesting case of

aggressive mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compare ...

, with the tips of the long tentacles having the appearance of a small harmless squid. It lures fish and other squids by dangling the tips of the tentacles very far away from its body, then quickly snatching the fooled prey into its death. Intact tentacles suspected to be from this species have been found inside the longnose lancetfish.

Distribution

This squid has been infrequently encountered, but it is believed to exist worldwide. It lives in the

mesopelagic 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 at ...

and bathypelagic zone at depths of 200–1500 m below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Morphology

''G. bonplandis maximum

mantle length The mantle (also known by the Latin word pallium meaning mantle, robe or cloak, adjective pallial) is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of ...

is 25 cm. It differs from its family

Chiroteuthidae The Chiroteuthidae are a family of deep-sea squid, generally small to medium in size, rather soft and gelatinous, and slow moving. They are found in most temperate and tropical oceans, but are known primarily from the North Atlantic, North Pac ...

by having a longer neck and a different body and fin shape. Its mantle locking apparatus is also fused. It is one of the many

squids 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 ...

that is bioluminescent. Its

photophores A photophore is a glandular organ that appears as luminous spots on various marine animals, including fish and cephalopods. The organ can be simple, or as complex as the human eye; equipped with lenses, shutters, color filters and reflectors, ...

are present only in the tips of the female squid's

tentacles 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 mainl ...

References

External links

Tree of Life web project: ''Grimalditeuthis bonplandi''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15813044, from2=Q2707838 Squid Cephalopod genera Monotypic mollusc genera Bioluminescent molluscs

Distribution

Morphology

See also

References

External links