FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

Histioteuthidae 787
Histioteuthidae HISTIOTEUTHIDAE
Jewel squids, umbrella squids
by M.C. Dunning
Diagnostic characters: Medium-sized to large squids.
Characterized by a simple, straight funnel-mantle locking
apparatus. Many large, anteriorly-directed light organs
over the surface of mantle, head, and arms, more concentrated
on the ventral surface. Unmodified toothed suckers arranged
biserially on arms, and in 4 and 8 rows on tentacular
clubs. Buccal connectives attached to dorsal border of ventral
arms.Bothdorsalarms(I) usually hectocotylized in males.
Head large in adults, with left eye considerably larger than
right eye. Most species with mantle relatively short, broad,
conical, and typically somewhat gelatinous (like the rest of the
body). Terminal fins consist of separate oval lobes, free anteriorly
but united posteriorly with a distinct median notch on the
posterior border; the convex posterior margin of the fins may
extend posteriorly beyond the mantle. Internal light organs absent.
The light organ pattern on the mantle, head, and arms and
the presence of enlarged terminal light organs on the arms are
specific characters and may be used in ventral countershading.
The species show considerable variation in the development of
a web connecting the inner margins of the arms, extending up
to 50% of the arm length in some species.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: The only genus of the family,
Histioteuthis, comprises oceanic species, also occurring on the
continental slope. No comprehensive life history studies of any
histioteuthid in tropical waters have been conducted. Mature
eggs of H. miranda have a maximum diameter of 0.8 mm. The
number and size of beaks in sperm whale stomachs indicate
that histioteuthids are schooling species. Although the family is
considered to be primarily mesopelagic, H. celetaria pacifica
and H. miranda have been caught frequently in deep-water
lobster trawls at depths of 300 to 600 m off northern Australia,
Histioteuthis celetaria pacifica
and the latter species in demersal trawls in slope waters of the
ventral view
South China Sea, suggesting that they are associated with the
bottom during part of their life cycle. They are important in the
(after Voss, 1969)
diets of sperm whales and also form part of the diets of yellowfin and albacore tuna, scabbard fish,
lancetfish, spotted dolphin, and perhaps albatrosses elsewhere. Fish predominates in the diet of adult
histioteuthids. Off Hawaii, H. dofleini shows both diel vertical migration and ontogenetic descent. Small
jewel squids occur at depths from 200 to 300 m during the night and descend to 400 to 700 m during the
day. Larger adults have been caught at depths of up to 800 m and only occasionally deeper. Other species
are more common in waters of 2 000 m and are captured only rarely in the upper 200 m. Histioteuthids are
not presently of commercial interest. Although some histioteuthid species reach in excess of 200 mm mantle
length and are frequently, if not abundantly, encountered in continental slope waters, the gelatinous nature
of their bodies and high ammonium content would detract from their market acceptance.
Similar families occurring in the area
None. Jewel squids are readily distinguished from other cephalopods by the anteriorly-directed light organs
which cover the surface of the mantle, head, and arms.
List of species occurring in the area
Histioteuthis celetaria pacifica (Voss, 1962)
Histioteuthis dofleini (Pfeffer, 1912)
Histioteuthis miranda (Berry, 1918)
Histioteuthis meleagroteuthis (Chun, 1910)
Reference
Voss, N.A. 1969. A monograph of the Cephalopoda of the North Atlantic. The family Histioteuthidae. Bull. Mar. Sci.,
19:713-867.
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