''Megalocranchia fisheri'' is a species of glass squid. Its natural range covers at least the waters off

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The species may attain a

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 of and a total length of over , Norman, M. 2000. ''Cephalopods: A World Guide''. Hackenheim, ConchBooks, p. 158. making it one of the largest species of squid, together with the

colossal squid The colossal squid (''Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni'') is part of the family Cranchiidae. It is sometimes called the Antarctic squid or giant cranch squid and is believed to be the largest squid species in terms of mass. It is the only recognize ...

(''Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni''),

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trace ...

(''Architeuthis'' sp.), and

robust clubhook squid ''Onykia robusta'', also known as the robust clubhook squid and often cited by the older name ''Moroteuthis robusta'', is a species of squid in the family Onychoteuthidae. Reaching a mantle length of ,Norman, M.D. 2000. ''Cephalopods: A World Gu ...

(''Onykia robusta''). It inhabits surface and mid-depth waters of open ocean. Juveniles live near the surface, while adults occupy mesopelagic depths during the day and migrate to near-surface waters at night. ''M. fisheri'' possesses two large light organs in the gill cavity. Females additionally have light organs on the ends of their third arm pair. As the animal matures, its fins become spear-like in appearance. It is possible that this taxon is conspecific with ''

Megalocranchia abyssicola ''Megalocranchia'' is a genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of bio ...

'', in which case ''M. fisheri'' would become a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

References

External links

Tree of Life web project: ''Megalocranchia''

See also

References

External links

Further reading