Weird mediterranean taoniid from ifremer
- Thread starter jeffday
- Start date
Well, that's a great head scratcher.
My initial thought is definitely Taonius, and being from the Mediterranean there is a good chance it would be ID'd as T. pavo. However, as was recently found in the Pacific, there may be some additional Taonius species present in that area. The squid looks pretty long and slender, with narrow fins. All of these things line up well with Tanoius. As you mentioned in your twitter (X?) post, the clubs appear to be "glowing'. I wonder if that was just a reflection off the sucker rings? I feel like I've seen that sort of reflection before and I don't think it was caused by any luminous organs.
The other squid that fits this general body shape is Galiteuthis. Usually, I think of this genus having a shorter mantle length and proportionally larger fins... but with the footage its very difficult to tell. One interesting feature is the posture of the animal. It's holding its tentacle clubs away from the rest of its arms (unlike the cockatoo posture often associated with members of this family). Either of the aforementioned genera would have larger "hooked" shaped teeth on their suckers and could reasonably make this posture, so I'm afraid that doesn't help to narrow this down.
My initial thought is definitely Taonius, and being from the Mediterranean there is a good chance it would be ID'd as T. pavo. However, as was recently found in the Pacific, there may be some additional Taonius species present in that area. The squid looks pretty long and slender, with narrow fins. All of these things line up well with Tanoius. As you mentioned in your twitter (X?) post, the clubs appear to be "glowing'. I wonder if that was just a reflection off the sucker rings? I feel like I've seen that sort of reflection before and I don't think it was caused by any luminous organs.
The other squid that fits this general body shape is Galiteuthis. Usually, I think of this genus having a shorter mantle length and proportionally larger fins... but with the footage its very difficult to tell. One interesting feature is the posture of the animal. It's holding its tentacle clubs away from the rest of its arms (unlike the cockatoo posture often associated with members of this family). Either of the aforementioned genera would have larger "hooked" shaped teeth on their suckers and could reasonably make this posture, so I'm afraid that doesn't help to narrow this down.
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