Steenstrup, 1857
Family characters
— Adults. Inverted-T funnel locking cartilage; in some species the funnel and mantle locking apparatus are fused. Lateral funnel adductor. Arms with two rows of suckers, tentacle club with four rows of suckers (except Illex, with eight rows on dactylus). Photophores present in some genera.
— Young. Distinctive larval form: the "rhynchoteuthioon" is characterised by a fusion of the tentacles into a sort of proboscis. The proboscis is present at hatching (ca. 1 mm mantle length), the separation of the two tentacles (division of proboscis) proceeds during growth, but the proboscis stops growing once the division begins. The tentacles separate between six and 10 mm mantle length; up to the beginning of the division, the distal tip of the proboscis has eight suckers. The locking cartilage is similar as in adults.
— Eggs. Ommastrephidae lay large gelatinous egg masses, that are probably pelagic.
[After Wormuth et al., in Sweeney et al., 1992]
The following subtaxa of this family occur in the region:
Illex coindetti
Ommastrephes bartramii
Todarodes sagittatus
Todaropsis eblanae