A review of the genus Muusoctopus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) from Arctic waters

A review of the genus Muusoctopus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) from Arctic waters

Blog Article

Abstract We report two Arctic species of incirrate octopods new to science.One is formally described here as Muusoctopus aegir Golikov, Gudmundsson & Sabirov sp.nov.while the other, Muusoctopus sp.

1, is not formally described due to a limited number of samples (all are immature individuals).These two species differ from each other, and from other Muusoctopus, especially in: 1) absence of stylets (in M.aegir sp.nov.

); 2) proportions of mantle and head; 3) funnel organ morphology (W-shaped with medial and marginal limbs of equal length in bail shoulder bag M.aegir sp.nov., or medial are slightly longer; V V-shaped with medial limbs slightly longer and broader than marginal in Muusoctopus sp.

1); 4) sucker and gill lamellae counts; 5) relative arm length and sucker diameter; and 6) male reproductive system relative size and morphology.Species of Muusoctopus now comprise four of 12 known Arctic cephalopods.Additionally, this study provides: a) new data on the morphology and reproductive biology of M.johnsonianus and M.

sibiricus, and a diagnosis of M.sibiricus; b) the equations to estimate mantle length and body mass from beak measurements of M.aegir sp.nov.

and M.johnsonianus; c) a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene barcode for M.sibiricus; d) new data on the ecology off white 5000 puffs and distribution of all studied species; and e) a data table for the identification of northern North Atlantic and Arctic species of Muusoctopus.