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Egg clutch, sperm reservoirs and fecundity of Neorossia caroli (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from the southern Sardinian sea (western Mediterranean)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2007

D. Cuccu
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
M. Mereu
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
R. Cannas
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
M.C. Follesa
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
A. Cau
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Università di Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, Sardinia, Italy
P. Jereb
Affiliation:
ICRAM, Via di Casalotti, 300 - 00166 Roma, Italy
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Abstract

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First observations on reproduction of Neorossia caroli from the southern Sardinian sea are reported, based on the analyses of an egg clutch and specimens collected by bottom trawl on sandy and muddy grounds. The egg clutch, consisting of 13 white eggs of 9 mm length with embryos at an advanced developmental stage, was found at 1200 m depth, attached to a piece of hard substrate. Adult specimens were collected in a depth range between 400 and 1600 metres. DNA sequences indicated that embryos, spermatangia and adults belonged to the same species, the carol bobtail squid, N. caroli. Fecundity analysis made on 40 females showed a variable number of eggs (20–611) in the ovaries, with the combined presence of advanced and developing oocytes, and few smooth eggs ready to be spawned in the oviducts of mature females. Several sperm reservoirs (spermatangia) were embedded in the mantle of some of the females, in the anterior ventral area overlying the oviduct.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2007 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom