Midwater Squid

Abralia veranyi (Rüppell, 1844)

ORIGINAL REFERENCE.—Enoploteuthis verany Rüppell, 1844:131, fig. 2.

DEPOSITION OF TYPES.—Holotype: BMNH, sex and size undetermined, off Messina, Italy, condition unknown.

Paratypes: None.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—Mediterranean Sea (Pfeffer, 1912); Atlantic (Berry, 1926; Adam, 1952; Voss, 1955, 1956; Rees and Maul, 1956; Cairns, 1976; Lu and Roper, 1979; Okutani, 1983b; Nesis, 1987; Nesis and Nikitina, 1987).

Abraliopsis Joubin, 1896

TYPE SPECIES.—Abraliopsis pfefferi Joubin, 1896, by original designation.

DIAGNOSIS.—Manus of club with 2 series of hooks, 1 series of suckers. Two to 4 large photophores covered by black chromatophores on tips of arms IV. Fins terminal. Buccal crown without typical chromatophores, with dark epithelial pigmentation on oral surface (needs confirmation). Eyeball with 5 photophores. Right or left arm IV hectocotylized. Suckers absent from arms IV. Spermatophore receptacle(s) located under collar or between stellate ganglia. Complex photophores of integument, in life, with red color filters. Radula with homodont teeth. Large arm hooks with apertures closed.

COMMENTS.—Burgess (pers. comm., 1988) is describing three new species of Abraliopsis from the central Pacific, and Tsuchiya (1993) suggests that at least four unnamed species exist in the Northwest Pacific.