''Sepiolina nipponensis'', also known as the Japanese bobtail squid, is a

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 ...

and one of two species in the genus ''Sepiolina''. It is found in the Western Pacific in apparently widely separated populations, the most southerly of which is in the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrog ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, and there are populations from the Philippines northwards to Taiwan,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

and southern

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Description

The maximum size of adult Japanese bobtail squid is 2.5 cm in mantle length (ML). The body consists of large fins and a short and dome-shaped mantle surrounded by an iridescent belt. The mantle cavity contains subcordate luminous organs. The arms are subequal with biserial suckers.

References

* Sweeney, M. J. and C. F. E. Roper / N. A. Voss, M. Vecchione, R. B. Toll and M. J. Sweeney, eds. (1998). Classification, type localities and type repositories of recent Cephalopoda, Systematics and Biogeography of Cephalopods. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 586 (I-II).

External links

Tree of Life: Sepiolina nipponensis
Bobtail squid Molluscs described in 1911 Taxa named by Samuel Stillman Berry {{sepiolida-stub