Description: A strong, muscular, oceanic flying squid. Mantle cylindrical or conical; fins terminal, transversely rhomboidal or heart-shaped. Large head and eyes. Strong arms with well-developed protective membranes and swimming keels. Funnel groove with foveola with 5-9 longitudinal folds and 4-6 side pockets. Funnel-locking cartilage with 2 deep grooves joined to each other forming an inverted-T shape. A large, yellow, oval photophore located anteriorly on the dorsal side of the mantle in large squid, consisting of numerous, densely packed small subcutaneous photophores. Additionally, a single round photophore occurs on the ventral surface of each eye and 2 more on the ventral surface of the intestine.
Global Distribution: Atlantic Ocean, in tropical to temperate waters. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum mantle length 650 mm; maximum weight 7 kg.
Age: Maximum age 372 days; usually less than 1 year.
Weight length rel.:
Growth type:
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: Spawning is seasonal and takes place in the autumn. Promiscuous mating takes place in surface waters at night. Spawning also occurs at night, in the epipelagic zone. The females are intermittent multi-batch spawners; after the first spawning they continue to feed and grow; large females produce at least 6 or more egg masses, which are pelagic.
Maturity: Mantle length at maturity: 300 mm (females); 180 mm (males). Most males mature at 120 - 150 days; 100% maturity at 180 days. Most females mature at 200 - 220 days; 100% maturity 320 days.
Behavioural ecology: Daily vertical migration to shallow waters at night for active feeding, followed by migration into deeper waters at dusk.S. pteropus is a very fast swimming, highly manoeuvrable squid, cruising at 3 - 10 kg per hour, and able to reach a burst speed of more than 30 km per hour. Sometimes when chased by predators, juveniles may 'fly', meaning they break out of the water and glide through the air for some meters. Forms schools of similar-sized individuals, sometimes with other flying squid such as Ommastrephes bartramii.
Population structure & migrations: Undertakes seasonal migrations, occurring at higher latitudes in the warmer season. There are two intraspecific forms: a small, early-maturing, equatorial form, which lives in the equatorial area and does not migrate; and a large, late-maturing form, distributed mainly in two areas of the eastern Atlantic, to the north and south of the equator. There is some genetic differentiation between these three populations.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: SeaLifeBase: 0 - 1500 m
Habitat: Pelagic. It occurs at sea surface temperatures from 16ºC to 32ºC. Epipelagic, mesopelagic and upperbathypelagic, in open oceanic waters.
Feeding habits: An active predator. Feeds mainly on plankton-eating fishes, squid, and pelagic shrimps.
Trophic level:
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species. Often used as bait in the black scabbardfish longline fishery.
Conservation status: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g (estimated from other Sthenoteuthis species):
protein 17.5 (35.0% DRV)
fat 0.6 g (0.9% DRV)
of which saturates 0.052 g (0.3% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.190 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
REFERENCES
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Martins R., Ferreira C. (1995). Line fishing for black scabbardfish (Aphanopus carbo Lowe, 1839) and other deep water species in the eastern mid Atlantic to the north of Madeira. In A.G. Hopper, ed., Deep-Water Fisheries of the North Atlantic Oceanic Slope, pp. 323-335.
Roper C.F.E., Nigmatulin C., Jereb P. (2010). Family Ommastrephidae. 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. 269-347.
