Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T12:01:53.991Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Biology of Loligo Forbesi Steenstrup (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) in the Plymouth Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

N. A. Holme
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth

Extract

The distinguishing features of the common squid of British waters, Loligo forbesi, are summarized, and contrasted with those of L. vulgaris. The life-cycle and growth of L. forbesi are described, based on samples from trawl catches off Plymouth. This species seems to be an annual - young squid first appear in the trawl in late May, when their length is about 10 or 11 cm. Subsequent growth is rapid, and the males reach 30 cm and the females 25 cm by November. Spawning takes place mainly in December-January, but may continue into the spring. Neither sex survives beyond a single spawning season. Hatching of the spawn probably takes 30–40 days, and if the young squid taken in the trawl in late May hatched in the early part of the same year, a growth rate of about 25 mm/month would be required. Known growth rates for other species of Loligo are about 20 mm/month, so that indicated for L. forbesi does not seem to be impossibly high. The life-cycle is summarized in Fig. 8. There is also a summer spawning population, which grows to a rather smaller size at maturity, and which also seems to be annual.

During the summer L. forbesi ranges throughout the English Channel and southern North Sea, particularly in inshore areas. In October the squid migrate farther offshore and tend to occupy the western part of the Channel.

Values for total weight of squid/2 h trawl are given, on a monthly basis, for 1966–9. The largest quantities are usually taken in October and November, the highest single figure being 30.54 kg/2 h trawl, in November 1967.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1974

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

Borlase, W., 1758. The Natural History of Cornwall, 326 pp. Oxford: W. Jackson.Google Scholar
Cassie, R. M., 1954. Some uses of probability paper in the analysis of size frequency distributions. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 5, 513–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fields, W. G., 1965. The structure, development, food relations, reproduction and life history of the squid Loligo opalescens Berry. California Fish and Game, 13, 1108.Google Scholar
Forbes, E. & Hanley, S., 1853. A history of British Mollusca and their shells. 4, 301 pp. London: van Doorst.Google Scholar
Grieg, J. A. 1933. Cephalopods from the west coast of Norway. Bergens museums drbog, 4, 124.Google Scholar
Grimpe, G., 1925. Zur Kenntnis der Cephalopodenfauna der Nordsee. Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen der Kommission zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung der deutschen Meere, N.F., 16, No. 3, 1124.Google Scholar
Hamabe, M., 1960. Observations of early development of a squid, Loligo bleekeri Keferstein. Report. Japan sea Regional Fisheries Research Laboratory, 6 (1), 149–55.Google Scholar
Holme, N. A., 1963. Some records of sea temperatures in the English Channel in February 1963. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 43, 701–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoyle, W. E., 1885. Note on Loligo Forbesii, Steenstrup, the so-called L. vulgaris of our coasts. Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, 459–62.Google Scholar
Jaeckel, S. G. A., 1958. Cephalopoden. Die Tierwelt der Nord- und Ostsee. 37, Teil IXb3, 479723.Google Scholar
Jatta, G., 1896. I Cefalopodi viventi nel Golfo di Napoli (Sistematica). Fauna e flora del Golfo di Napoli, 23, 1264 and Atlas.Google Scholar
Jecklin, L., 1934. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Laichgallerten und der Biologie der Embryonen decapoder Cephalopoden. Revue suisse de zoologie, 41, 593673.Google Scholar
Kristensen, E., 1959. The coastal waters of the Netherlands as an environment of molluscan life. Basteria, 23 Supplement, 1846.Google Scholar
Laroe, E. T., 1971. The culture and maintenance of the loliginid squids Sepioteuthis sepioidea and Doryteuthis plei. Marine Biology, 9, 925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo Bianco, S., 1909. Notizie biologiche riguardanti specialmente il periodo di maturità sessuale degli animali del golfo di Napoli. Mitteilungen aus der Zoologischen Station zu Neapel, 19, 513761.Google Scholar
Maff, , 1972. Sea fisheries statistical tables 1971, 40 pp. (SBN 11 241071 5). London: H.M. Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Mangold-Wirz, K., 1961. La migration des céphalopodes méditerranéens. Rapport et procésverbaux des reünions. Commission Internationale pour l'exploration scientifique de la mer Méditerranée, 16, 299304.Google Scholar
Mangold-Wirz, K., 1963. Biologie des céphalopodes benthiques et nectoniques de la Mer Catalane. Vie Milieu, 13, Suppl., 1285.Google Scholar
Marine Biological Association, 1957. Plymouth Marine Fauna (3rd ed.), 457 pp. Plymouth.Google Scholar
Mcgowan, J. A., 1954. Observations on the sexual behavior and spawning of the squid Loligo opalescens at La Jolla, California. California Fish and Game, 40, 4754.Google Scholar
Mcmahon, J. J. & Summers, W. C, 1971. Temperature effects on the developmental rate of squid (Loligo pealei) embryos. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 141, 561–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muus, B. J., 1963. Cephalopoda. Sub-Order: Teuthoidea. Family Loligimdae. Fiches d'identification du zooplancton, 95, 3 pp.Google Scholar
Naef, A., 1923. Die Cephalopoden. Fauna e flora del Golfo di Napoli, 35, 1(1), 863.Google Scholar
Otterlind, G., 1954. Bläckfisk och fiske i Skandinavien. Faunistisk Revy, 3, 7591.Google Scholar
Russell, E. S., 1922. Report on the cephalopoda collected by the research steamer ‘Goldseeker’, during the years, 1903–1908. Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 1921, 1ll, 145.Google Scholar
Southward, A. J., 1960. On changes of sea temperature in the English Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 39, 449–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steenstrup, J., 1856. Hectocotyldannelsen hos Octopodslægterne Argonauta og Tremoctopus. Kongelige Danske Videnskaberner Selskabs Skrifter, 4(4), 185216.Google Scholar
Steenstrup, J., 1857. Hectocotylus-formation in Argonauta and Tremoctopus explained by observations on similar formations in the Cephalopoda in general. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 2, 20, 81114. (English translation of 1856 paper.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephen, A. C, 1944. The Cephalopoda of Scottish and adjacent waters. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 61, 247–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, J. A., 1935. The cephalopods of the Yorkshire coast. Journal of Conchology, 20, 102–16.Google Scholar
Summers, W. C, 1968. The growth and size distribution of current year class Loligo pealei. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 135, 366–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Summers, W. C, 1971. Age and growth of Loligo pealei, a population study of the common Atlantic coast squid. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 141, 189201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, H. J., 1973. Squid. Scott. Fish. Bull., No. 39, June 1973, 35–9.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, L. & Verwey, J., 1945. Zur biologie von Loligo vulgaris Lam. Archives néerlandaises de zoologie, 7, 213–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodhead, P. M. J., 1964. The death of fish and sub-littoral fauna in the North Sea and the English Channel during the winter of 1962–63. Journal of Animal Ecology, 33, 169–73.Google Scholar