Ryan Photographic - Loliginidae - Pen squid
Family Loliginidae
The family Loliginidae contains 46 species in ten genera according to the World Register of Marine Species. The pen squid are characterized (apart from all the obvious decapod features) by their possession of a pen - a thin chitinous supporting rod. Squid are active oceanic predators. They locate prey primarily through vision and catch them with a pair of raptorial tentacles. The victim is then cut up by their powerful chitinous beak and ingested.
Most, if not all, pen squid can carry out rapid color change through their chromatophores. Some possess photophores and are able to moderate the light output on their ventral surface to match that of the light coming from above. Like the octopuses, pen squid can produce ink when threatened and jet away, leaving either a screen or a squid-shaped ink blob behind. It is believed that cephalopod ink may numb olfaction in predators.
There are suggestions that squid are becoming more numerous as predatory fish are removed from oceanic food webs.
Squid are eaten in most parts of the world and represent an important food source. According to the FAO, 3.7 million tonnes of squid were caught last year.
Sepioteuthis australis Southern calamari squid
Sepioteuthis australis Southern calamari squid
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid, Night dive, Sugar wreck, Bahamas EPV0715
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid pair
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid, Night dive, Sugar wreck, Bahamas EPV0647
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid, Night dive, Sugar wreck, Bahamas EPV0655
Sepioteuthis sepioidea Caribbean reef squid, Night dive, Sugar wreck, Bahamas EPV0559. These guys are not interested in me - they are watching a hunting spotted dolphin.
Sepioteuthis sepioidea, Caribbean reef squid. When I see something like this my heart just sings.