A contribution to the reproductive biology and geographical distribution of Antarctic Octopodidae (Cephalopoda)

• Main Author: Kuehl, Silke
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Malacology 1988
• Subjects: Antarctic; Charcot; Elephant Island; South Shetland Islands; Western Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34120/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34120/7/969.pdf

Benthic octopods were collected during a bottom trawl survey on the western shelf of Elephant Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) in mid-March 1981. Twelve hauls between 68 and 470 m yielded five species; most abundant was Pareledone Charcot/ (n = 114 or 50.2% of individuals) followed by P. polymorphe (n = 55 or 24.2%) and P. turqueti (n = 47 or 20.7%). Another species of the genus Pareledone not yet identified and one species of the genus Benthoctopus were present with 7 (3.1%) and 4 (1.8%) individuals, respectively. In Pareledone Charcoti, wet weight ranged from 1.8 to 136.1 g in specimens of 2.1 to 8.2 cm mantle length. Wet weight ranged from 9.8 to 164.6 g in Pareledone polymorphe of 3.1 to 9.7 cm ML. Pareledone turqueti weighed 5.3 to 275.4 g wet weight and were 2.9 to 14.1 cm in ML. The largest specimen recorded was a female P. turqueti of 6907 g wet weight and 22.5 cm ML. In general, fecundity was low and egg size large when compared to other octopodid species from temperate and warmer seas. Fecundity of females was highest in one of the smaller species, P. polymorphe. From the large variation of the gonad index and the size/frequency distribution of ova as well as from the morphology of gonads, there was evidence that spawning in mid March had already commenced.