Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
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The Atlantic glass squid (Teuthowenia megalops), also known as the Atlantic jelly squid, is a predatory hunter that is usually landed using plankton nets and trawls.
In the Mediterranean region, the squid is caught and fished commercially at fish markets.
Although this squid was first described as Cranchia (Owenia) megalops Prosch, 1849, its depth distribution does not seem to have been fully explored, which can be deduced from the following information:
IUCN Red List: 0 - 2700 meters
SeaLifeBase: 405 - 4515 meters
Cephalopods of the World Vol. 2: 40 m - 2700 meters, page 177
National History Museum Data Portal: 4838 m - 4841 meters
Squids ascend - usually at night - to much shallower water zones near the surface, where they follow the ascending zooplankton.
Main distribution area: Mid-Atlantic Ridge
On the subject of transparency / translucency
Nature has gone to great lengths for the squid in terms of "protection", the main advantage of a gelatinous body is its transparency in the water and thus special protection against some predators.
Unfortunately for Teuthowenia megalops, the calculation does not work out very well, the almost complete invisibility does not provide any real protection against the sonar of whales (Ziphius cavirostris, Physeter macrocephalus) and dolphins, which ultimately find their prey anyway.
The same applies to sharks, which locate the squid (or their electric field) with the help of their Lorenzinian ampullae. The squid can also rarely escape fast hunters such as swordfish.
Unfortunately, the squid also suffers from humans and their behavior, a burden on the food chain:
"The tissues of Teuthowenia - as well as those of specimens of eight other species - have now been analyzed by a team of scientists from NOAA and William and Mary College in Virginia for traces of "persistent organic pollutants" (POPs). These harmful and very stable organic chemicals are known to accumulate in the bodies of humans, animals and plants and gradually migrate through the food chain. "
Source: https://www.spektrum.de/alias/bilder-der-woche/schon-ganz-unten/958703
In the photos of the squid, the spindle-shaped digestive glands can be seen, which always remain vertically oriented, regardless of the direction in which the head and body of the squid are facing.
The photo of Teuthowenia megalops from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History shows the animal in the "cockatoo" posture, or "cockatoo squid" in English, a name the animal owes to the tentacles folded over its head.
Females can lay between 70,000 and 80,000 eggs with a length of approx. 1.7 mm in a short time, the lifespan of these is between 730 and 1,095 days, after laying and fertilization of the eggs the adults die.
Synonyms:
Cranchia (Owenia) megalops Prosch, 1849
Desmoteuthis tenera A. E. Verrill, 1881
Desmoteuthis thori Degner, 1925
Leachia hyperborea Steenstrup, 1856
Megalocranchia megalops (Prosch, 1849)
Taonidium pfefferi Massy, 1913
Taonius megalops (Prosch, 1849)
Taonius tenera (A. E. Verrill, 1881)
In the Mediterranean region, the squid is caught and fished commercially at fish markets.
Although this squid was first described as Cranchia (Owenia) megalops Prosch, 1849, its depth distribution does not seem to have been fully explored, which can be deduced from the following information:
IUCN Red List: 0 - 2700 meters
SeaLifeBase: 405 - 4515 meters
Cephalopods of the World Vol. 2: 40 m - 2700 meters, page 177
National History Museum Data Portal: 4838 m - 4841 meters
Squids ascend - usually at night - to much shallower water zones near the surface, where they follow the ascending zooplankton.
Main distribution area: Mid-Atlantic Ridge
On the subject of transparency / translucency
Nature has gone to great lengths for the squid in terms of "protection", the main advantage of a gelatinous body is its transparency in the water and thus special protection against some predators.
Unfortunately for Teuthowenia megalops, the calculation does not work out very well, the almost complete invisibility does not provide any real protection against the sonar of whales (Ziphius cavirostris, Physeter macrocephalus) and dolphins, which ultimately find their prey anyway.
The same applies to sharks, which locate the squid (or their electric field) with the help of their Lorenzinian ampullae. The squid can also rarely escape fast hunters such as swordfish.
Unfortunately, the squid also suffers from humans and their behavior, a burden on the food chain:
"The tissues of Teuthowenia - as well as those of specimens of eight other species - have now been analyzed by a team of scientists from NOAA and William and Mary College in Virginia for traces of "persistent organic pollutants" (POPs). These harmful and very stable organic chemicals are known to accumulate in the bodies of humans, animals and plants and gradually migrate through the food chain. "
Source: https://www.spektrum.de/alias/bilder-der-woche/schon-ganz-unten/958703
In the photos of the squid, the spindle-shaped digestive glands can be seen, which always remain vertically oriented, regardless of the direction in which the head and body of the squid are facing.
The photo of Teuthowenia megalops from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History shows the animal in the "cockatoo" posture, or "cockatoo squid" in English, a name the animal owes to the tentacles folded over its head.
Females can lay between 70,000 and 80,000 eggs with a length of approx. 1.7 mm in a short time, the lifespan of these is between 730 and 1,095 days, after laying and fertilization of the eggs the adults die.
Synonyms:
Cranchia (Owenia) megalops Prosch, 1849
Desmoteuthis tenera A. E. Verrill, 1881
Desmoteuthis thori Degner, 1925
Leachia hyperborea Steenstrup, 1856
Megalocranchia megalops (Prosch, 1849)
Taonidium pfefferi Massy, 1913
Taonius megalops (Prosch, 1849)
Taonius tenera (A. E. Verrill, 1881)
