Offshore cephalopods (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) collected off the west coast of Mexico during the TALUD cruises

ABSTRACT

Deep-sea cephalopods are still poorly studied worldwide. In the case of the Mexican Pacific there is a general lack of basic information concerning their distribution and biology. A series of 132 specimens of pelagic and benthic deep-water cephalopods was obtained during the TALUD project. Samples were mostly obtained with benthic sampling gear that operated as mid-water trawls during the ascent of the nets. Micronekton and Isaacs-Kidd samplers were also occasionally used. The specimens (77 lots in total) were obtained at localities off western Mexico at depths between 122 m and 2200 m and belong to 31 species. Considering material identified to species level only, a total of 13 species were found only at a single station, while five others occurred in 5–6 stations (i.e., Leachia dislocata, Abraliopsis [Pfefferiteuthis] falco, Pterygioteuthis giardi, P. holeyi and Benthoctopus robustus). The most widespread species was Japetella diaphana, collected in 11 stations. Twenty-two of the 31 species are strictly pelagic, eight strictly benthic and one is benthopelagic. Significant new distribution records were obtained for seven species: Doryteuthis opalescens, Gonatus berryi, Todarodes pacificus, Opistoteuthis californiana, Benthoctopus leioderma, B. robustus and Graneledone boreopacifica.

KEYWORDS:

• Deep-water
• distribution
• eastern Pacific
• list of species
• octopuses
• squids

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all scientists, students and crew members who helped with the sampling operations aboard the R/V El Puma during the TALUD III-XVI-B cruises. The authors also thank José Salgado-Barragán for photographing the specimens in Figures 1 and 2, Lina Romero for processing and editing Figures 1 and 2, Ana K. Barragán for laboratory support [CONACyT 179467 contract] and Mercedes Cordero Ruiz for preparing Figures 3–7. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Brian Urbano http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6688-2005

Michel E. Hendrickx http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9187-6080

Additional information

Funding

Ship time of the research cruises of the TALUD project carried aboard the R/V El Puma was funded by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (TALUD III-XIV), and by UNAM and CONACyT (TALUD XV, XVI and XVI-B). This study was partly supported by CONACyT [Projects 31805-N and 179467]. BU acknowledges the ‘Programa de Postgrado en Ciencias Biológicas’, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for financial support during his stay in Mazatlán and CONACYT for a research grant [175768].