Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T16:33:35.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bathypolypus sponsalis (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) from the central western Mediterranean Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2009

D. Cuccu*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
M. Mereu
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
M.C. Follesa
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
A.M. Deiana
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
A. Cau
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: D. Cuccu, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy email: [email protected]

Abstract

A sample of 360 Bathypolypus sponsalis from the central western Mediterranean Sea (the Sardinian Channel and the Tyrrhenian Sea) was analysed in order to describe size, depth distribution and reproductive data. The first record of the species in the Tyrrhenian Sea and of a spent female are reported in this paper. The size-structure of the sample was in between values of documented data from the western and eastern Mediterranean basins and the minimum mature sizes in both sexes and spermatophore length were similar to previous data from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Low values of gonadosomatic index and fecundity, the asynchronous ovulation, in addition to an extended reproductive period, have been associated with an intermittent spawning strategy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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

Barratt, I.M., Johnson, M.P. and Allcock, A.L. (2007) Fecundity and reproductive strategies in deep sea incirrate octopuses (Cephalopoda: Octopoda). Marine Biology 150, 387398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belcari, P. (1999) Bathypolypus sponsalis. In Relini, G., Bertrand, J. and Zamboni, A. (eds) Sintesi delle conoscenze delle risorse da pesca dei fondi del Mediterraneo Centrale (Italia e Corsica). Biologia Marina Mediterranea 6, 733736.Google Scholar
Collins, M.A., Yau, C., Allcock, L. and Thurson, 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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuccu, D., Addis, P., Damele, F. and Manfrin Piccinetti, G. (2003) Primo censimento della teutofauna dei mari circostanti la Sardegna. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 10, 795798.Google Scholar
Cuccu, D., Mereu, M., Cannas, R., Follesa, M.C., Cau, A. and Jereb, P. (2007) Egg clutch, sperm reservoirs and fecundity of Neorossia caroli (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from the southern Sardinian Sea (western Mediterranean). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 971976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Onghia, G., Tursi, A., Matarrese, A. and Panetta, P. (1993) Some aspects of the biology of B. sponsalis in the North Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean Sea). Vie et Milieu 43, 161164.Google Scholar
D'Onghia, G., Matarrese, A., Tursi, A., Maiorano, P. and Panetta, P. (1995) Osservazioni sulla teutofauna epi e mesobatiale nel Mediterraneo Orientale (Mar Ionio e Mar Egeo). Biologia Marina Mediterranea 2, 199204.Google Scholar
D'Onghia, G., Matarrese, A., Tursi, A. and Maiorano, P. (1996) Cephalopods collected by bottom trawling in the north Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean). Oebalia 22, 3346.Google Scholar
Faldelloni, A., Chelli, M. and Voliani, A. (2005) Bathypolypus sponsalis (Cephalopoda, Octopoda) nel Mar Ligure Meridionale. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 12, 509513.Google Scholar
Follesa, M.C., Mulas, A., Murenu, M., Sabatini, A. and Cau, A. (2005) Ampliamento delle conoscenze sulla fauna batiale dei mari sardi. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 12, 517521.Google Scholar
Laptikhovsky, V.V. (1998) Differentiation of reproductive strategies within a taxon, as exemplified by octopods. Ruthenica 8, 7780.Google Scholar
Lefkaditou, E., Peristeraki, P., Bekas, P., Tserpes, G., Politou, C.Y. and Petrakis, G. (2003) Cephalopods distribution in the southern Aegean Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science 4, 7985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefkaditou, E., Siapatis, A., Chilari, A., Christidis, G. and Petrakis, G. (2004) First record of Bathypolypus sponsalis (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) in the Ionian Sea. Rapports et Procès-verbaux des Réunions. Commission Internationale pour l'Exploration Scientifique de la Mer Méditerranée 37, 386.Google Scholar
Mangold-Wirz, K. (1963) Biologie des Céphalopods benthiques et nectoniques de la Mer Catalane. Vie et Milieu 13, 4955.Google Scholar
Nesis, K.N. (1987) Cephalopods of the world: squids, cuttlefishes, octopuses, and allies (English translation). Neptune City, NJ: TFH Publications Inc.Google Scholar
Nesis, K.N. (1996) Mating, spawning, and death in oceanic cephalopods: a review. Ruthenica 6, 2364.Google Scholar
Nigmatullin, Ch.M. and Laptikhovsky, V.V. (1994) Reproductive strategies in the squids of the family Ommastrephidae (preliminary report). Ruthenica 4, 7982.Google Scholar
Nigmatullin, Ch.M. and Laptikhovsky, V.V. (1999) Reproductive biology in females of the subfamilies Todaropsinae and Todarodinae (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae). Ruthenica 9, 6375.Google Scholar
Pérez-Gándaras, G. and Guerra, A. (1978) Estudio sobre algunas especies del género Bathypolypus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) halladas en las costas de Galicia. Investigation Pesquera 42, 189211.Google Scholar
Quetglas, A., Carbonell, A. and Sánchez, P. (2000) Demersal continental shelf and upper slope Cephalopod assemblages from the Balearic Sea (North-West Mediterranean). Biological aspects of some deep-sea species. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 50, 739749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quetglas, A., González, M., Carbonell, A. and Sánchez, P. (2001) Biology of the deep-sea octopus Bathypolypus sponsalis (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) from the western Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biology 138, 785792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocha, F., Guerra, Á. and González, Á.F. (2001) A review of reproductive strategies in Cephalopods. Biological Reviews 76, 291304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siegel, S. and Castellan, N.J. (1988) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioural sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Villanueva, R. (1992) Deep-sea cephalopods of the north-western Mediterranean: inclination of up-slope ontogenetic migration in two bathybenthic species. Journal of Zoology, London 227, 267276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voliani, A., Cuccu, D., Fiorentino, F., Giordano, D. and Mannini, A. (in press) An updated review of the occurrence of Bathypolypus sponsalis (Octopodidae, Cephalopoda) in the Italian seas and notes on its distribution in the Mediterranean. Bollettino Malacologico.Google Scholar