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Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens (Berry 1911)

Opalescent inshore squid

Michael Vecchione and Richard E. Young
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Containing group: Doryteuthis

Introduction

The common loliginid of western North America. Maximum size 19 cm dorsal mantle length and 130 g weight in males, 17 cm and 90 g respectively in females; average total length about 30 cm.

Characteristics

  1. Mantle
    1. Mantle slender, width 20-33% ML.
  2. Fins
    1. Fin length and width approximately equal, 38-52% ML.
  3. Arms
    1. Arms short.
    2. Arm sucker rings with 9 to 12 blunt teeth.
    3. Left ventral arm hectocotylized along distal 1/3 by great reduction in sucker size and enlargement of stalks into papillae.
  4. Tentacles
    1. Tentacular clubs narrow, unexpanded.
    2. Sucker rings with about 30 blunt teeth.
  5. Head
    1. Beaks: Descriptions can be found here: Lower beak; upper beak.

  6. Viscera
    1. Ink sac elongate.

Biology

Minimum size at spawning ranges between 8 and 12 cm in females, and between 7 and 11 cm in males.

Geographic distribution

Endemic to the California Current region. Range from British Columbia, Canada to southern tip of Baja California, Mexico.

Other Names for Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens (Berry 1911)

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens
Acknowledgements C. F. E. Roper, Michael J. Sweeney and Cornelia E. Nauen. 1984. Cephalopods of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Species of Interest to Fisheries. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No 125, Vol. 3. 277 pp. Rome: FAO 1984.
About This Page


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


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Michael Vecchione at

Page: Tree of Life Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens (Berry 1911). Opalescent inshore squid. Authored by Michael Vecchione and Richard E. Young. 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 and Richard E. Young. 2010. Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens (Berry 1911). Opalescent inshore squid. Version 02 September 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Doryteuthis_%28Amerigo%29_opalescens/52726/2010.09.02 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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