Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T07:32:50.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bathymetric range, density and reproductive biology of the deep-sea cirrate octopus Opisthoteuthis calypso in the Portuguese continental slope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2008

Rui Rosa*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 100 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
João Pereira
Affiliation:
Departamento de Recursos Marinhos, IPIMAR, Avenida de Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa, Portugal
Ana Moreno
Affiliation:
Departamento de Recursos Marinhos, IPIMAR, Avenida de Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa, Portugal
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Rui Rosa, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Centro de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada do Guincho, 2750-374 Cascais, Portugal email: rrosa@etal.uri.edu

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to provide the first analysis of depth distribution and reproductive biology in the deep-sea cirrate octopus Opisthoteuthis calypso along the Portuguese continental slope. We used 77 specimens obtained in 7 research cruises between 1996 and 2003. Catch rates and biomass, weights, lengths, sex and maturity stages, and a morphometric description of the beak are detailed. Specimens have been collected from 553 to 960 m depth, south of 39°N, in approximately 1:1 sex-ratio. Females are larger (80:75 mm mantle length) and heavier (622:346 g total body weight) than males and both sexes have been caught in all stages of maturity in equal proportions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boyle, P. and Daly, H.I. (2000) Fecundity and spawning in a deep-water cirromorph octopus. Marine Biology 137, 317324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, M.R. (1986) A handbook for the identification of cephalopod beaks. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 273 pp.Google Scholar
Collins, M.A. and Villanueva, R. (2006) Taxonomy, ecology and behaviour of the cirrate octopods. Oceanography and Marine Biology 44, 277322.Google Scholar
Collins, M.A., Yau, C., Allcock, L. and Thurston, M.H. (2001) Distribution of deep-water benthic and bentho-pelagic cephalopods from the north-east Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 81, 105117.Google Scholar
Daly, H.I., Boyle, P. and Collins, M.A. (1998) Reproductive status of Opisthoteuthis sp. over an annual cycle. South African Journal of Marine Science 20, 187192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonçalves, J.M.A. (1993) Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 (polvo-comum): sinopse da biologia e exploração. MSc thesis. University of the Azores, Horta, 470 pp.Google Scholar
Guerra, A. (1992) Mollusca, Cephalopoda. In Ramos, M.A., Esteban, M. and Lobo, J.M. (eds) Fauna Ibérica, Volume 1. Madrid: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, pp. 1327.Google Scholar
ICES (1994) Report of the Study Group on the Biology and Assessment of Deep-Sea Fisheries Resources. ICES CM. 1994/Asses:4, Ref:G, 91 pp.Google Scholar
Laptikhovsky, V.V. (1999) Fecundity and reproductive strategy of three species of octopods from the north-western Bering Sea. Biologiya Morya 25, 342346.Google Scholar
Rosa, R., Dierssen, H.M., Gonzalez, L. and Seibel, B.A. (in press) Large-scale diversity patterns of cephalopods in the Atlantic open ocean and deep-sea. Ecology.Google Scholar
Villanueva, R. (1992) Continuous spawning in the cirrate octopods Opisthoteuthis sp. and O. vossi: features of sexual maturation defining a reproductive strategy in cephalopods. Marine Biology 114, 265275.Google Scholar
Villanueva, R. and Guerra, A. (1991) Food and prey detection in two deep-sea cephalopods: Opisthoteuthis agassizii and O. vossi (Octopoda: Cirrata). Bulletin of Marine Science 49, 288299.Google Scholar
Villanueva, R., Collins, M.A., Sánchez, P. and Voss, N.A. (2002) Systematics, distribution and biology of the cirrate Octopods of the genus Opisthoteuthis (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) in the Atlantic Ocean, with description of two new species. Bulletin of Marine Science 71, 933985.Google Scholar