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Lepidoteuthis grimaldii—a Squid with Scales

Abstract

IN August 1959, I collected the stomach contents of a sperm whale caught off Madeira and flensed at the whaling station at Canical in Madeira. These included three heads and four mantles of squids belonging to the genus Lepidoteuthis. The squids of the only known species in the genus are characterized by having a covering of ‘scales’ on the mantle. Joubin in 1895 first noted this unusual feature in his description of Lepidoteuthis grimaldii Joubin. The description was based on two mantles from a sperm whale's stomach and a fragment from the stomach of a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus). These animals were caught off the Azores. Lönnberg1 regarded Joubin's description of scales with some scepticism, and considered that the structures referred to were the same as those he had described as papillæ in Moroteuthis ingens (E. A. Smith, 1891). Later, Joubin2 gave a more detailed description of the material in his possession. No further records of this species were made until Rees and Maul3 noted it in the fauna of Madeira. Mr. G. E. Maul, of Funchal Museum, saw two specimens of this species in the stomach contents of sperm whales caught off Madeira and one which was vomited by another whale killed in the same locality between 1952 and 19544. He was also able to collect a complete specimen. Dr. R. Clarke4 saw the mantle of a specimen, again in the stomach of a sperm whale caught off the Azores and processed at San Miguel.

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References

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CLARKE, M. Lepidoteuthis grimaldii—a Squid with Scales. Nature 188, 955–956 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/188955a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/188955a0

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