Complete

Iridoteuthis iris (Berry, 1909)

Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione
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Containing group: Iridoteuthis

Introduction

Iridoteuthis iris is a small heteroteuthin (28 mm ML in females, 24 mm in males) with very large eyes, short mantle that projects ventrally anterior to the eye lenses and unusually large fins. It is known only from Hawaiian waters.

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Figure. Iridoteuthis iris. Top - Dorsal and ventral views, male. Drawings from Harman and Seki (1990). Bottom - Ventrolateral view of live animal. © 1996 Thomas Burch.

Brief diagnosis

An Iridoteuthis ...

Characteristics

  1. Arms (Harman and Seki, 1990)
    1. Males
      1. Arms I in males with dorsal series of suckers reduced in size on distal region of arms.
      2. Arms II in males each with slightly enlarged suckers on middle of arms.
      3. Arms III in males each with several greatly enlarged suckers in midarm of dorsal series; distal to enlarged suckers a short area without suckers and only sucker stalks (=pedicels).
      4. Arms IV ends in males each with suckers in four series.
      5. Enlarged dorsal keels (flags) at tips of arms I-III in males.
      6. 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. Oral view of the brachial crown of I. iris, male, 24 mm ML. Drawing from Harman and Seki (1990).

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        Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

        Figure. Oral view of the arm crown of I. iris, male. This appears to be the same specimen from which the above drawing was made. Photograph by R. Young.

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        Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

        Figure. Arm tips of I. iris, male, same specimen as above. Left - Oral view of arms I and II. Middle - Oral view of arm III. Right - Medial view of arm IV. Photographs by R. Young.

    2. Females
      1. Tips of arms I in females bare.
      2. Distal region of each arm III with elongate trabeculae, no suckers.
      3. Distal region of each arm IV with elongate trabeculae, no suckers; proximal half with relatively large suckers; next quarter with smaller suckers in somewhat irregular 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. Oral view of the brachial crown of I. iris, female, 21 mm ML. Drawing from Harman and Seki (1990).

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        Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

        Figure. Oral views of the arms of I. iris, female. Specimen appears to be the same as that from which the drawing above was made. Left - Left arms I-IV with arm I on the left of the photograph. Middle - Arm III tip. Right - Arm IV tip. Photographs by R. Young.

Comments

More details of the description of I. iris can be found here. 

Sexual dimorphism of arms apparent in animals larger than 8 mm ML (Harman and Seki, 1990).

See the Iridoteuthis page for a table comparing the most obvious differences between the species. 

Distribution

Type locality: Off the south coast of Molokai Isl, Hawaiian Archipelago, central North Pacific from over a bottom depth of 280 m. Subsequently captured at a variety of localities along the Hawaiian Archipelago from about 21°N, 157°W to about 32°N, 177°E. All captures are close to islands or seamounts and are from relatively shallow fishing depths (ca. 150-300 m). I. iris appears to be a member of the mesopelagic boundary fauna occuring over bottom depths of less than 450 m (Young, 1995).

Other Names for Iridoteuthis iris (Berry, 1909)

References

Harman, R. F. and M. P. Seki. 1990. Iridoteuthis iris (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae): New records from the central North Pacific and first description of the adults. Pac. Sci. 44: 171-179.

Young, R. E. 1995. Aspects of the natural history of pelagic cephalopods of the Hawaiian mesopelagic-boundary region. Pacific Science 49: 143-155.

Title Illustrations
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Location Hawaiian waters
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
View Side
Size 19 mm ML
Copyright © 1996 Thomas Burch
About This Page


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


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

Page: Tree of Life Iridoteuthis iris (Berry, 1909). Authored by Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Young, Richard E. and Michael Vecchione. 2014. Iridoteuthis iris (Berry, 1909). Version 21 January 2014. http://tolweb.org/Iridoteuthis_iris/111801/2014.01.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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