''Batoteuthis skolops'', the bush-club squid, is the single rare species in genus ''Batoteuthis'', which is the only genus in family (biology), family Batoteuthidae. The squid is found in Antarctic waters, and reaches a mantle (mollusc), mantle length of at least 350 mm. Some features of this creature are a small head, a long tail and a very peculiar tentacle with six series of suckers on the club. The genus contains bioluminescent species.

Distribution

''B. skolops'' occurs in the Southern Ocean.Xavier, J.C. & Rodhouse, P.G. & Trathan, P.N. & Wood, A.G. 1999. A Geographical Information System (GIS) Atlas of cephalopod distribution in the Southern Ocean. ''Antarctic Science'', Published online on May 6, 2004 Its range may be circumpolar with a strict Antarctic distributionGuerreiro, Miguel & Phillips, Richard A & Cherel, Yves & Ceia, Filipe R & Alvito, Pedro & Rosa, Rui & Xavier, José C. 2015. Habitat and trophic ecology of Southern Ocean cephalopods from stable isotope analyses. ''Marine Ecology Progress Series'', published online on June 18, 2015. and it may live in bathypelagic depths.

Ecology

This squid is eaten by several predators in the Southern Ocean, like albatrosses and sperm whales. Their diet is unknown, but ¹⁵N ratios showed high values in their tissues which point towards either a high trophic level, or living in great depths (or both).

References

External links

Tree of Life web project: ''Batoteuthis skolops''
Squid Molluscs described in 1968 Monotypic mollusc genera Cephalopod genera Bioluminescent molluscs {{squid-stub