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Histioteuthis inermis Taki 1964

Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione
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Holotype 42 mm ML, sex undetermined. Deposited at ZIKU.
Containing group: Histioteuthidae

Introduction

Histioteuthis inermis is known from only 15 specimens taken from waters off Japan.

Characteristics

  1. Photophores
    1. Basal Row with 10 photophores and without sawteeth.
    2. Apparently no separate group of compound arm-tip photophores is present.

  2. Tentacle club
    1. Large medial suckers about 2X diameter of marginal suckers.

  3. Suckers
    1. Sucker rings on arms IV smooth.
    2. Rings on enlarged median suckers of manus with 20-27 narrow, conical teeth around entire margin.

Comments

More information on the description of Histioteuthis inermis can be found here.

Species of the celetaria-group are characterized by:

  1. Head photophores:
    1. Type 1b pattern on head.
    2. Basal Row of head with 9 or 10 photophores.
    3. Right Basal Series of head absent.
    4. Arms IV with 3 longitudinal series on arm base (drawing below).
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
    5. Most species with separate group of 4-8 compound photophores on ends of arms IV (drawing above) (Voss, et al., 1998). Apparently this feature is absent in H. inermis.
    6. Compound photophores of large, uniform size and evenly spaced on anterior 2/3 of ventral mantle.
  2. Tubercles
    1. Absent.

The species differ in the following manner:

Character H. celetaria H. inermis H. pacifica H. sp. A
Club suckers
Asymmetrical outer
sucker rings in: 		3 ventral-marginal
sucker series		 No asymmetrical rings 2 ventral-marginal
sucker series		 No asymmetrical rings
Size of medial
manal suckers:		 Slightly larger than
marginal suckers		 2 X marginal suckers 1.5 X marginal suckers Slightly larger than
marginal suckers
Large manal-sucker dentition: 12-13 teeth on distal margin 20-27 teeth on entire margin 28-32 teeth on entire margin 15-20 teeth on distal margin
Photophores
Single sawtooth in
Basal Row photophore pattern:		 Yes No sawtooth No sawtooth Yes
Number of photophores in Basal Row: 9 10 9 9

With the exception of the analysis of head photophores and the inclusion of H. inermis in this species group, most of the information presented here is from Voss (1969) and Voss, et al . (1998)

Nomenclature

Voss, et al. (1998) consider this taxon the subspecies H. corona inermis. Based on the Type 1b photophore pattern, the absence of a Right Basal Photophore series, and the large size of the photophores (this has not been quantified) we here place this taxon into the celetaria-group.

Distribution

Geographical distribution

Type locality: Off Kambara, Suruga Bay, Japan, ca. 35°N, 138°E. H. inermis is known only from the Northwestern Pacific (Voss, et al., 1998).

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Figure. Distribution chart of H. inermis. Modified from Voss et al., 1998.

References

Voss, N. A. 1969. A monograph of the Cephalopoda of the North Atlantic: The family Histioteuthidae. Bull. Mar. Sci., 19: 713-867.

Voss, N.A., K. N. Nesis, P. G. Rodhouse. 1998. The cephalopod family Histioteuthidae (Oegopsida): Systematics, biology, and biogeography. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 586(2): 293-372.

Title Illustrations
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Histioteuthis inermis
Specimen Condition Preserved
Size 49 mm ML
Collection NMNH no. 816306
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
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About This Page


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


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

Page: Tree of Life Histioteuthis inermis Taki 1964. Authored by Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione. 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:

Young, Richard E. and Michael Vecchione. 2000. Histioteuthis inermis Taki 1964. Version 01 January 2000 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Histioteuthis_inermis/19799/2000.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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