Estimation of body size from the beaks of eight sepiolid species (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

	Molluscan ResearchISSN 1323-5818
	An international journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia and the Society for the Study of Molluscan Diversity published by Magnolia Press

Molluscan Research 30(3): 154-164; published 30 Nov. 2010
Copyright © The Malacological Society of Australasia & the Society for the Study of Molluscan Diversity
Estimation of body size from the beaks of eight sepiolid species (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

SERMIN AÇIK^1* & ALP SALMAN²

^{1Dokuz
Eylul University, Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology, 35340,
Inciralti, Izmir, Turkey.

^{2Ege
University, Faculty of Fisheries, Department of Hydrobiology, 35100,
Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.

^{*
Corresponding author: Email: sermin.acikcinar@deu.edu.tr

Abstract

Sepiolidae play
an important role in the marine ecosystem as their beaks occur
frequently in the stomach contents of whales, sword fish and tuna. To
enable the estimation of body size and
biomass, the biometrical measurements of upper (5 dimensions) and
lower (5 dimensions) beaks of sepiolid specimens were plotted against
both mantle length and body weights of intact animals of eight species
of Sepiolidae (Sepiola intermedia, Sepiola robusta, Sepiola
steenstrupiana, Sepietta oweniana, Sepietta neglecta,
Rossia macrosoma, Neorossia caroli and Heteroteuthis
dispar) from the coasts of Turkey. Significant differences
observed among the beak ratio means and structural characteristics are
used to construct a key for upper beaks of the eight species. Some
upper (hood, crest and basal lengths) and lower beak (wing, basal and
crest lengths) measurements were found to be particularly useful for
estimating the mantle length of the species examined. The results of
the present study, especially data for the lower beaks of specimens,
were qualitatively compared with those of the previous studies carried
out in different zoogeographic regions.

Key
words:
Beak dimensions, Coleoidea, predation

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Published : 30 Nov. 2010