''Loligo reynaudii'', commonly known as the Cape Hope squid, is a 20–30 cm long

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 ...

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 V ...

. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

it is known as either ''calamari'' or ''chokka''. It was previously treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''

Loligo vulgaris The European squid or common squid (''Loligo vulgaris'') is a large squid belonging to the family Loliginidae. It occurs abundantly in coastal waters from the North Sea to at least the west coast of Africa. This species lives from sea level to d ...

'', the European squid.Vecchione, M. & R.E. Young. (2010)
''Loligo reynaudii'' Orbigny 1845
The Tree of Life Web Project.

Distribution

It occurs in coastal South African waters from

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

and as far as

Port Alfred A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. This species lives from sea level to depths of .

Description

This animal has an elongated slender body with eight short arms and two very long retractile tentacles, all of which have suckers. It has relatively long diamond-shaped fins, which run more than half the length of 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 ...

. Its mantle is up to long. Its eyes are covered with a membrane which is part of the skin covering the head.

Ecology

The South African squid is an important predator of small fishes. It forms dense breeding aggregations in bays between Cape Point and Port Elizabeth in summer, laying sausage-shaped bunches of egg bundles on the sea floor. The young are transported west by the Agulhas Current and mature on the Agulhas Bank. They then migrate eastwards as adults back to their spawning grounds. The species is extensively exploited by commercial fisheries. Its natural predators include:

Short-tail stingray The short-tail stingray or smooth stingray (''Bathytoshia brevicaudata'') is a common species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It occurs off southern Africa, typically offshore at a depth of , and off southern Australia and New Zealand, fro ...

, Diamond ray, Spotted ragged-tooth shark,

Cape fur seal The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. ...

, cat shark and numerous species of fish and birds.

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

Charles Maxwell videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loligo Reynaudii Squid Cephalopods described in 1841