''Helicocranchia pfefferi'', the banded piglet squid, is a small

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 ...

of the genus '' Helicocranchia''. Adults of this species are mesopelaegic.

Physical characteristics

The average size of adult ''H. pfefferi'' is in

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 ...

length (ML). The body consists of a large funnel with small paddle-like fins. They have small

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 main ...

s above their eyes. The funnel does not have valves, but contains a dorsal pad with three papillae as organs. Paddle-shaped fins are attached to a part of the

gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...

. ''H. pfefferi'' has a single ocular photophore and does not have photophores at its arm tips.

Habitat

paralarva Paralarvae (singular: ''paralarva'') are young cephalopods in the planktonic stages between hatchling and subadult. This stage differs from the larval stage of animals that undergo true metamorphosis. Paralarvae have been observed only in membe ...

e (<30 mm ML), they live near the surface of the oceans, between 100 m and 200 m deep. They descend to the

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 ...

as they mature, but exhibit a

diel vertical migration Diel vertical migration (DVM), also known as diurnal vertical migration, is a pattern of movement used by some organisms, such as copepods, living in the ocean and in lakes. The word ''diel'' comes from the Latin ''dies'' day, and means a 24-h ...

pattern.

References

Prey

Its diet resembles that of most squid: fish, shrimp, and squid. * Young, R.E. & K.M. Mangold (1922-2003). 2006
''Helicocranchia'' Massy, 1907
Version 16 July 2006 (under construction). In: The Tree of Life Web Project.

External links

Images of ''Helicocranchia'' from the SERPENT Project

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2366378 Squid Molluscs described in 1907 Taxa named by Annie Massy