''Idioteuthis cordiformis'' is a species of whip-lash squid found in tropical regions of the west

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. The species is commonly known as the 'love-heart squid' because the species name ''cordiformis'' is Latin for 'heart shaped'. Recently, this species has been found to consume small

birdbeak dogfish The birdbeak dogfish (''Deania calcea'') is a dogfish shark of the family Centrophoridae found in the Pacific Ocean around Honshū, Japan, southern Australia, New Zealand, and Chile, and in the Atlantic Ocean from Iceland south to the Cape ...

Description

''Idioteuthis cordiformis'' is a large, deep-sea species that attains a mantle length (body length) of over one meter in length.Braid, 2013 Although multiple specimens have been carefully observed, they are often damaged during capture. Therefore, different authorities have described variations in the colouration of this species: pale flesh-pink, yellowish with small reddish-brown chromatophores, dark purple pigmentation with purple chromatophores overlaid with greyish tubercles, or having thickly crowded deep brownish chromatophores. In life, these animals appear dark red or purple Like all squids, it has eight arms. Like other species in this family, it also has two long, whip-like tentacles. The tentacles of this species are unique in this family in that they contain some large suckers, while other mastigoteuthids have small to microscopic suckers. The largest tentacle suckers of ''I. cordiformis'' are nearly the same size as the arm suckers, but the size diminishes towards the very ends of the tentacles and the suckers become very small The skin is rough and covered with small, conical

tubercule In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection, ...

s on round plaques. The dark red or purple pigment is found in densely packed

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 but there are no

photophore 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, ...

s present on the skin.Tree of Life Web Project
/ref> However, each eye has a large crescent shaped photophore. The head is separated from the mantle by a collar. The funnel is widely conical with a recurved end. The funnel attaches to the mantle with a locking apparatus. The funnel component has the form of a human ear, while the mantle component is shaped like a human nose. Like most squids, the eyes are large and highly developed, with relatively large lobes of the brain dedicated to their control.Deep-Sea Cephalopods
/ref> The posterior end of the mantle has a heart-shaped fin, which extends three quarters of the way along the mantle.

Distribution

''Idioteuthis cordiformis'' is found in tropical waters around Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Japan and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

.SeaLifeBase
/ref>

Gallery

File:Idioteuthis cordiformis2.jpg, Arm sucker File:Idioteuthis cordiformis3.jpg, Arm sucker File:Idioteuthis cordiformis4.jpg, Oral (top) and aboral (bottom) views of tentacular club File:Idioteuthis cordiformis5.jpg, Oral-oblique view of club sucker File:Idioteuthis cordiformis6.jpg, Lateral view of club sucker File:Idioteuthis cordiformis7.jpg, Ventral view of funnel locking apparatus File:Idioteuthis cordiformis in a museum.jpg, ''Idioteuthis cordiformis'' in a museum

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2564598 Whip-lash squid Molluscs described in 1908 Taxa named by Carl Chun Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN