Loligo forbesii

Steenstrup, 1856

Description
Adult. Body elongate, solid and fleshy, bluntly rounded posteriorly; up to 600 mm long, maximum mantle length about 350 mm. Dorsal surfaces densely pigmented reddish brown, ventral surfaces lighter. Fins are angular, forming an elongate diamond shape in dorsal view, comprising about two-thirds of total body length. Fin length 75% of mantle length in largest specimens. Anterior dorsal edge of mantle produced as a blunt lobe extending to a point just posterior to eyes. Arms about twice the length of body, angular in section, ventral pair particularly broad and flat; bearing two longitudinal rows of suckers. Tentacle club with median suckers of the middle region less than twice the diameter of adjacent marginal suckers. Large club suckers with teeth over entire ring. Rings of small suckers on buccal membrane lappets distally with 12-15 obtuse teeth.
Larvae/juvenile [hatchling L.forbesi-hatch]. Description not available. Generally no great changes in body forms occur in development from hatchling to adult. Hatchling length ranging 3.5-4.1 mm. The number of chromatophores decreases from ventral to dorsal side. (Hanlon et al., in Sweeney et al., 1992).

Size
Adult mantle length maximum 35 cm; hatchling size 3.5-4.1 mm. [Synopsis of sizes of Loligo species from hatchling to adult Loligo-sizes-y ].

Habitat
In coastal waters and offshore. The common squid of commercial fisheries.

Depth range
Surface to 400 m.

Distribution in the North Sea
All North Sea.

World distribution
E Atlantic from central Norway (S from 65°N) to Cape Blanc (Mauretania) and the Canaries and Azores; fairly rare to the south from the Gulf of Biscay; W Mediterranean Sea. Widespread and abundant, around the whole of the British Isles.

Remark
As some authors regard Alloteuthis as a subgenus within Loligo (read more in Genus Alloteuthis), then by consequence Loligo is the other subgenus; in that case, the present species should be named as Loligo (Loligo) forbesii Steenstrup, 1856.