Under Construction

Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens (Smith, 1881)

Michael Vecchione, Richard E. Young, and Kotaro Tsuchiya
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Containing group: Onykia

Introduction

O. ingens reaches a length of at least 500 mm ML (Kubodera, et al., 1998) and is found in circumpolar but mostly sub-Antarctic waters.

Brief diagnosis:

An Onykia ...

Characteristics

  1. Tentacles
    1. Club with usually 14 pairs of hooks (range - 13-16 hooks, dorsal series, 13-15, ventral series).
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Oral view of tentacular club of O. ingens. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

  2. Head
    1. Beaks: Descriptions can be found here: Lower beak; upper beak.

  3. Mantle
    1. Ventral mantle with soft, irregular warts.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. A piece of ventral mantle skin of O. ingens. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

  4. Fins
    1. Rhomboidal shape, not drawn out into a tail.
    2. Length 50-60% of ML.
    3. Width 60-70% of ML.

  5. Gladius
    1. Maximum width of vanes ca. 11% of gladius length (to tip of conus).
    2. Rostrum 11-12% of the ML, triangular in cross-section.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Ventral view of gladius of O. ingens with cross-sections. Drawing from Pfeffer, 1912.

comments

This description is taken from Pfeffer (1912).

Additional features of the description can be found here.

Life History

The tentacular club of a young O. ingens, 77mm ML has a few marginal suckers still remaining on the proximal dorsal margin and on the distal ventral margin.

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Figure. Oral view of tentacular club of O. ingens, 77 mm ML. Drawing from Tsuchiya and Okutani, 1981, p. 145, Fig. 35.

Dubinina (1980) described a juvenile squid from the Southwest Atlantic as Onykia robsoni (drawing to the right) but according to C. Nigmatullin (personal communication) it probably is a young O. ingens. The scale bar is 1 mm.

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Figure. Ventral and dorsal views, probably, of O. ingens, 13 mm ML. Drawing from Dubinina (1980).

Distribution

This species is circumpolar in sub-Antarctic waters. A map of its distribution is found here.

Other Names for Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens (Smith, 1881)

References

Clarke, M. R. 1980. Cephalopoda in the diet of sperm whales of the Southern Hemisphere and their bearing on sperm whale biology. Discovery Reports, 37: 1-324.

Dubinina, T. S. 1980. On a finding of a larvae Moroteuthis robsoni (Oegopsida, Onychoteuthidae) in South-west Atlantic.

T. Kubodera, U. Piatkowski, T. Okutani and M.R. Clarke. 1998. Taxonomy and Zoogeography of the Family Onychoteuthidae (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, No. 586: 277-291.

Tsuchiya, K., and T. Okutani. 1991. Growth Stages of Moroteuthis robusta (Verrill, 1881) with the Re-evaluation of the Genus. Bulletin of Marine Science, 49(1/2):137-147.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens
Location SW Chatham Rise (near New Zealand) at 44°21'S, 175°32'E
Comments Bottom trawl at at about 690 m depth
Acknowledgements National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA)
Identified By Darren Stevens
Sex Female
Life Cycle Stage Mature
View Ventral
Size 384 mm ML, 1875 g weight
Collection NIWA
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Onykia ingens
Reference Pfeffer, G. 1912. Die Cephalopoden der Plankton-Expedition. Zugleich eine Monographische Übersicht der Oegopsiden Cephalopoden. Ergebniss der Plankton- Expedition der Humboldt-Stiftung, 2:1-815.
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
View Ventral, dorsal
Size ca. 400 mm ML
About This Page


National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C. , USA


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


Tokyo University of Fisheries, Tokyo, Japan

Page: Tree of Life Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens (Smith, 1881). Authored by Michael Vecchione, Richard E. Young, and Kotaro Tsuchiya. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Vecchione, Michael, Richard E. Young, and Kotaro Tsuchiya. 2003. Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens (Smith, 1881). Version 23 June 2003 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Onykia_%28Moroteuthopsis%29_ingens/19972/2003.06.23 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Leaf Page.

Each ToL leaf page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a leaf at the tip of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a leaf and a branch of the Tree of Life is that a leaf cannot generally be further subdivided into subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Onykia (Moroteuthopsis) ingens

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top