Cryptoteuthis

Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata, the short-arm flapjack octopod,[3] is a deepwater species of octopod. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Cryptoteuthis one of the cirrate octopuses of the family Opisthoteuthidae, the umbrella octopuses.[2] It is known from a single specimen which was collected in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It has characteristics which are shared with two other genera in the Opisthoteuthidae, Opisthoteuthis and Grimpoteuthis, but is sufficiently distinctive from either of these to warrant the erection of a new genus.[4]

Cryptoteuthis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Opisthoteuthidae
Genus: Cryptoteuthis
Collins, 2004
Species:
C. brevibracchiata
Binomial name
Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata
Collins, 2005[2]

Description

Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata is a bell-shaped octopus with a semi-gelatinous, semi-transparent body, except for the dark tips of the oral web and the tipes of the fins. The fins are small and round, and their length is equal to half the width of the head. It has short arms, each with a single row of small, broad suckers and with a double row of cirri which are of moderate length, with each cirrus just longer than the diameter of the suckers. The longest arm has 48 suckers and the web is around half the length of the arms. The eyes are laterally positioned and the optic nerve passes through the white body in a single bundle. There are no posterior salivary glands, radula or ink sac. The digestive gland is entire. It has a simple U-shaped shell. The gills have 7 primary lamellae. The mantle length 35 mm and the total length is 121mm.[3]

Distribution and habitat

Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata was described from a single specimen, an immature female, collected in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean near the Porcupine Seabight at 49°54 N, 12°21 W from a depth of between 2,274 and 2,300m, south west of Ireland. The habitat is unknown but this species is unlikely to be demersal and it shows adaptations which suggest that it may be a benthic species which a preference for soft substrates, like some related taxa, such as Grimpoteuthis.[1]

References
  1. Lyons, G.; Allcock, L. (2014). "Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T176058A1425759. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T176058A1425759.en. Downloaded on 06 February 2018.
  2. Philippe Bouchet (2015). "Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata Collins, 2004". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  3. Patrizia Jereb; Clyde F.E. Roper; Mark D. Norman; Julian K. Finn, eds. (2016). "Cephalopds of the World An Annotated and illustrated catalogue of Cephalopods species known to date Volume 3 Octopods and Vampire Squids" (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome. ISBN 9789251079898.
  4. Martin A. Collins (2004). "Cryptoteuthis brevibracchiata: a new species and genus of cirrate octopod (Octopoda: Cirrata)". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 70: 263–267. doi:10.1093/mollus/70.3.263.
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