AN UNUSUAL SQUID PARALARVA (CEPHALOPODA) WITH TENTACULAR PHOTOPHORES

We describe an unusual squid paralarva from the eastern North Pacific. This paralarva has characters indicating it might be a gonatid, but i f so it is the first gonatid species known to have photophores on its tentacles. Structures that might be photophores were also located on t he interior of the mantle. One other gonatid species, Gonatus pyros, i s known to have photophores but these are located only on the eyes. Go natus pyros spawns in the eastern North Pacific, and its early paralar va has not been described. We therefore tested the hypothesis that our squid may be an ontogenetic stage of G. pyros. Tentacles of young G. pyros were examined histologically to see if photophore tissue might b e embedded in the tentacles, but the results were inconclusive. We als o examined early stages of eight other gonatid species. None of these had either tentacular or internal photophores. We therefore describe t his very unusual specimen, but its identity remains uncertain.