''Sepiola atlantica'', also known as the Atlantic bobtail, is a species of

bobtail squid Bobtail squid (order Sepiolida) are a group of cephalopods closely related to cuttlefish. Bobtail squid tend to have a rounder mantle than cuttlefish and have no cuttlebone. They have eight suckered arms and two tentacles and are generally qui ...

native to the northeastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

Description

''Sepiola atlantica'' has short fins which do not overlap the mantle margin either anteriorly or posteriorly. The four arms have two series of suckers close to the body and 4 to 8 rows of minute suckers toward their tips. The remaining arms have two rows of suckers. A

hectocotylus A hectocotylus (plural: ''hectocotyli'') is one of the arms of male cephalopods that is specialized to store and transfer spermatophores to the female. Structurally, hectocotyli are muscular hydrostats. Depending on the species, the male may use i ...

is present, the left dorsal arm is modified, the near end has a fleshy pad which is formed from enlarged and fused sucker pedicels with the copulatory apparatus being a large swollen horn, which has secondary lobes at its base; the dorsal row of suckers which are placed tword the tip from the copulatory apparatus has 3 or 4 slightly enlarged suckers with swollen pedicels, 3 or 4 vestigial suckers, then 3 to 5 greatly enlarged suckers roughly halfway along arm. The hectocotylised arm is strongly bent towards its tip. The

tentacular club All cephalopods possess flexible limbs extending from their heads and surrounding their beaks. These appendages, which function as muscular hydrostats, have been variously termed arms, legs or tentacles. Description In the scientific l ...

has transverse rows of 8 suckers. There is a pair of kidney-shaped

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, ...

within the mantle cavity, one on each side of the animal's

ink sac An ink sac is an anatomical feature that is found in many cephalopod mollusks used to produce the defensive cephalopod ink. With the exception of nocturnal and very deep water cephalopods, all Coleoidea (squid, octopus and cuttlefish) which dwell ...

. Both sexes of ''S. atlantica'' grow to around in mantle length.

Distribution

''Sepiola atlantica'' has a

latitudinal In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

range from 65ºN to 35ºN, ranging from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

and western

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in the north south to the Moroccan coast. There is a single record of this species from the

, a mature male caught in the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

at a depth of 90m.Reid, A. & P. Jereb 2005. Family Sepiolidae. ''In:'' P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper, eds. ''Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 1. Chambered nautiluses and sepioids (Nautilidae, Sepiidae, Sepiolidae, Sepiadariidae, Idiosepiidae and Spirulidae)''. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 1. Rome, FAO. pp. 153–203. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

was collected in the Bay of Biscay and is deposited at the

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Biology

''Sepiola atlantica'' is a small species which occurs in a variety of marine habitats extending from shallow water to the upper slope of the continental shelf. It is a benthic species but it has been recorded from the water column during both day and night. Like many species in the family

Sepiolidae Sepiolidae is a family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its me ...

, ''S. atlanticus'' possesses a light organ which may be used to countershade the animal. The mature males have a fleshy bulb and enlarged suckers on the distal end of the left first arm. In Firemore Bay,

Loch Ewe Loch Ewe ( gd, Loch Iùbh) is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notab ...

, off the coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

spawning appears has been recorded as occurring throughput the year, peaking in April and again in July to August. Related species of

are benthic animals that typically hide by burying themselves in soft substrates in daytime, and then at night they emerge to feed. The resident population of Firemore Bay has a variable age composition, further suggesting that this species has an extended reproductive season. At this site juveniles are recorded throughout the year, however recruitment of juveniles into the population shows peaks in April and July to August. During mating, the male typically approaches the female, grasping the ventral region of the female's mantle while using the dorsal arm to transfer the spermatophores to the female's mantle cavity. Mating typically lasts from 68 to 80 minutes. During this time, the female may change in color or pattern, while the male's coloration generally stays constant. File:Baby Cuttlefish2 (5589806913).jpg, Hatchling File:Cuttlefish (5381129320).jpg, Preserved specimen File:Faroe stamp 409 ten armed squid.jpg, ''Sepiola atlantica'' appears on stamp FO 409 of the

References

External links

Genetic Information on ''Sepiola atlantica''
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q292467 Bobtail squid Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Marine molluscs of Africa Marine molluscs of Europe Taxa named by Alcide d'Orbigny Cephalopods of Europe

Description

Distribution

Biology

References

Further reading

External links