Description: A coastal squid. Mantle long, moderately slender, muscular and cylindrical. Fins are rhomboidal. Arms with suckers on two series. Tentacle clubs with four longitudinal series of suckers; the two median series have suckers three to four times the diameter of adjacent marginal suckers. Reddish brown, darker dorsally, but colouration undergoes voluntary changes. Males occasionally display stripes similar to those of L. forbesi, but smaller, less numerous and less intensely coloured.
Global Distribution: Atlantic: from the North Sea and British Isles to southwest Africa and the Mediterranean. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum mantle length 42.0 cm (male), 32 cm (female); maximum published weight: 1.5 g. Males attain larger sizes and weights than females, but females generally exhibit higher weights than males at any given length.
Age: Life span ranges from 9-10 months (in southern Portuguese and West Saharan shelf waters) to 1.5 years (in northern Portugal).
Weight length rel.:
Growth type: Negative allometric (in both sexes). Males show higher growth rates.
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: Spawning marks the end of the life cycle, but it is intermittent terminal spawning, meaning that spawning continues over a long period of time, interspersed with periods of intense feeding activity. Two modes in size at sexual maturity for males are reported for most Atlantic areas, suggesting alternative male reproductive tactics. Spawning extends throughout the year in most of the distributional range of the species, usually with two seasonal peaks. A potential fecundity of 70,000 eggs is estimated for the species. Eggs are small, deposited in gelatinous capsules with tens of eggs each. These capsules are attached to rocks or other egg masses.
Maturity: Minimum reported size at maturity 80 mm mantle length (ML) for males; 119 mm ML for females. Size at 50% maturity 168 mm ML for males; 188 mm ML for females.
Behavioural ecology: Exhibits benthic behavior during spawning season and pelagic behavior at other times, e.g., during hunting. Segregation by sex has been reported from the Mediterranean, but not in Atlantic populations.
Population structure & migrations: Migrates in response to changes in environmental conditions; also undertakes offshore and onshore migrations related to reproduction.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: SeaLifeBase: 0 - 500 m, usually 20 - 250 m.
Habitat: Benthopelagic. A coastal pelagic species; becomes more dependent on the bottom during the spawning season. Performs daily vertical migrations related to feeding; remaining closer to the bottom during the day and dispersing into the water at night.
Feeding habits: Carnivorous predators; juveniles feed on planktonic prey, e.g. copepods, mysids and euphausids; while adults frequently feed on fish, and sometimes on cephalopods and crustaceans.
Trophic level:
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species. Usually captured at night using the same purse seine method that targets small pelagics. Commercially it is not distinguished from L. forbesi.
Conservation status: Not evaluated.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 76 kcal (3.8% DRV)
protein 15.8 g (31.6% DRV)
fat 0.9 g (1.3% DRV)
of which saturates 0.242 g (1.2% DRV)
sodium 0.196 g (8.2% DRV)
REFERENCES
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Jereb P., Vecchione M., Roper C.F.E. (2010). Family Loliginidae. In Jereb P., Roper C.F.E., eds. Cephalopods of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cephalopod species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid Squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes No. 4, Vol. 2, Rome, pp. 38-117.
Nunes M.L., Bandarra N., Oliveira L., Batista I., Calhau M.A. (2006). Composition and nutritional value of fishery products consumed in Portugal. In: Seafood Research from Fish to Dish: Quality, safety and processing of wild and farmed fish, eds.: J.B. Luten, C. Jacobsen, K. Bekaert, A. Saebo, J. Oehlenschläger. Wageningen Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 568 pp.
