Note

Luteuthis dentatus Description Continued

Steve O'Shea, Richard E. Young, and Michael Vecchione
  1. Arms, suckers and cirri
    1. Dorsal arms 75% of TL; ventral arms 38% of TL.
    2. Cirri short, ca. 50% of greatest sucker diameter.
    3. Tiny cirri present at first arm sucker, enlarged cirri first appear between suckers 4 and 6.
    4. First 3 suckers of moderate size, thereafter increase gradually to typical size, similar sized suckers present to midpoint of arms, thereafter suckers decrease to arm tips.
    5. Sucker aperature with 10 well-developed, hardened, radiating processes.
    6. Suckers small, diameter ca. 5% of ML.
    7. Up to 58 suckers on all arms.

  2. Digestive system
    1. Salivary glands absent.
    2. Digestive gland bilobate.
    3. Intestine appreciably shorter than oesophagus.
    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

    Figure. Digestive system of L. dentata. Drawing from O'Shea, 1999.

  3. Optic lobe
    1. Optic lobe spherical.
    2. Single nerve bundle arises from optic lobe.
    3. 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

      Figure. Optic lobe, nerve bundle and white body of L. dentata, holotype, 98 mm ML. Drawing from O'Shea, 1999.

  4. Male reproductive system
    1. Accessory glands 2 and 3 dominate accessory gland complex.
    2. Accessory gland 1 and seminal vesicle 3 with similar granular consistency.
    3. Accessory gland complex arranged in a linear series.
    4. 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

      Figure. Male reproductive tract of L. dentata, holotype. Drawing from O'Shea, 1999.

  5. Radula
    1. Radula with 7 series of homodont teeth
    2. 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

        Figure. Radula of L. dentata with false coloring, holotype. Drawing from O'Shea, 1999.

  6. Beaks
    1. Upper beak with weakly developed lateral-wall fold.
    2. 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

      Figure. Beaks of L. dentata, holotype. Left - upper beak. Right - Lower beak. Drawing from O'Shea, 1999.

  7. Mantle cavity
    1. Gills half-orange shape, 7 large primary lamellae.
    2. Mantle adductor muscle normal.
    3. 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

      Figure. Mantle cavity of L. dentata, holotype. Photograph from O'Shea, 1999.

  8. Pigmentation
    1. Dorsal and ventral surfaces of mantle, head and arms pale pinkish-red with faint traces of darker red.
    2. Oral surfaces of arms and web slightly darker, purplish-red.
    3. Margins of eye wine-red (see photograph on right).
    4. Outer margins of fins wine-red.
    5. Cirri wine-red.
    6. Suckers and sucker aperatures pale yellow.
    7. 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

      Figure. Ventral-oblique view of head and mantle of L. dentata showing pigmented ring around opening to eye. Enlargement from title photograph, from O'Shea and Lu, 2002.

  9. Measurements NMNZ: M.131564
      General Right Left
    Total length 524 -- --
    Mantle length 98 -- --
    Mantle width 76 -- --
    Pallial apperature width 18 -- --
    Funnel length 28 -- --
    Fin length 85 -- --
    Fin width 43 -- --
    Eye opening diam. 13 -- --
    Arm I, length -- 392 360+
    Arm II, length -- 334 385
    Arm III, length -- 300 340
    Arm IV -- 201 362
    Web depth, sect. A 60 -- --
    Web depth, sect. B -- -- 60
    Web depth, sect. C -- -- 60
    Web depth, sect. D -- 40 69
    Web depth, sect. E 34 -- --
    Arm I, sucker count -- 58+ 48+
    Arm II, sucker count -- 54+ 53+
    Arm III, sucker count -- 42+ 27+
    Arm IV, sucker count -- 45+ 46+
    Arm I, max. cirrus length -- 2.0 --
    Arm II, max. cirrus length -- 2.1 --
    Arm III, max. cirrus length -- 2.0 --
    Arm IV, max. cirrus length -- 1.9 --
    Arm I, max. suck. diam. -- 5.0 4.1
    Arm II, max. suck. diam. -- 4.0 4.1
    Arm III, max. suck. diam. -- 4.0 4.1
    Arm IV, max. suck. diam. -- 4.0 4.0
    Gill lamella no. 7 -- --

    These measurements and counts are from O'Shea, 1999.

Comments

This description is from O'Shea (1999) and O'Shea and Lu (2002). 

References

O'Shea, S. 1999. The Marine Fauna of New Zealand: Octopoda (Mollusca: Cephalopoda). NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 112: 280pp.

O'Shea, S. and C. C. Lu. 2002. A New Species of Luteuthis (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Cirroctopoda) from the South China Sea.

About This Page

Steve O'Shea
Oceanic Sciences Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


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

All Rights Reserved.

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