Cirroteuthis reference

bathypol

Wonderpus
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Mar 2, 2004
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Hello again!

Once again I have run into a stumbling block in my research. I am trying to find a reference on the temperature preferences of Cirroteuthis muelleri. I've looked at every reference I can get my hands on with no luck. Does anyone know of any such reference?

Thanks! :banghead:
 
Hmmm... Cirroteuthis is a deepwater genus (and species I guess, if C. muelleri is the only one), right? Depending how deep 'deep' is, that would make the normal temperature around 4 or 5 degrees C.
 
It's known largely from the northern hemisphere, with an exception being a single specimen attributed to 'cf. muelleri' from NZ, a depth > 2000 m. At this depth, in NZ, you're talking less than 3°C, but I don't believe a temperature was recorded for the NZ capture. (I reported it 10 years ago.)

The systematics of the genus is still a dogs breakfast.
 
From what references I've been able to find, they can be found as deep as 4856 m but this is from the North Atlantic and I'm looking at individuals from shallower areas (not shallow, but shallower than ~5 km ) in the Arctic ocean. The particular areas in question were measures to well below 4-5 deg C, so I was wondering if there were any references showing them living in such cold water.

...and Steve, I totally agree with the systematic problems with this genus. :confused:
 
Yet another question....sorry.

I'm now attempting to age Cirroteuthis muelleri and was wondering if anyone knew of a reference of how to do it, or could anyone give me any pointers? I have one reference by Bizikov which outlines the gladius nicely and says that there are growth lines but that's as far as it goes. Nothing on interpreting them. It also says they have statoliths, but wouldn't they be the same as octopods and not show growth rings? Also, how would you keep the gladii from shrinking when removed from the ceph? Should I age as I go or can they be put aside for later?

Thank you guys for your help....its nice to have somewhere to turn when you don't have any resident teuthologists within a 1000 km radius :smile:
 
I sincerely doubt that anyone has ever validated the age of these things on the basis of concentric layers of the gladius/shell. The same is true of all deep-sea squids as well.

Just place the gladius/shell in a 5% buffered formalin-seawater solution; you'll not experience much shrinkage as a consequence of this (as opposed to 70-80% ETOH, or 40% isopropyl alcohol). I'd love to see an image of the gladius of your specimens, from all angles (I am especially interested in the lateral views).

Do you really have enough specimens to turn around and start doing dissections of this nature? They are an extremely rare (in collections) type of species, because of the depths they inhabit and the costs associated with exploring those depths.
 
Thanks for the help Steve!

I don't have a huge number of specimens, around 20 I suspect (they are currently frozen in large blocks, several per block). I am planning on saving the most intact specimen(s) for a museum collection, however, since so little is known, dissections are my best bet to increase the knowledge base. I'm also hoping to get some more this summer. We got these specimens from fishery surveys up in the Arctic. They're in pretty good shape considering they were brought up in groundfish trawls.

As for pictures, I'd be happy to send them along. I'm just finishing up one species and then I'll be starting on the Cirroteuthis next. If you haven't already come across this reference, The Shell in Vampyropoda: morphology, functional role and evolution (V.A. Bizikov). There's some nice gladius drawings and discussions.
 
Yup, I have that reference. Thanks. I always wanted to examine specimens of this species to compare with the only NZ representative we have (I am not sure the NZ and northern hemisphere specimens are conspecific). I have a couple of other specimens that could be referable to 'Cirrothauma magna' also, collected subsequent to the '99 memoir, that I'd love to compare with C. murrayi and 'Cirroteuthis muelleri.'

These things are not at all common. If frozen there's probably a lot that you can do with them. I am salivating at the thought!
 

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