Morphological characteristics of paralarvae of cephalopods found in Thai waters

Abstract

Paralarvae of nine species of cephalopods, including the bobtail squid (Euprymna hyllebergi), sharp-tail pygmy squid (Idiosepius pygmaeus), bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana), needle cuttlefish (Sepia aculeata), spineless cuttlefish (Sepiella inermis), Pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis), marble octopus (Amphioctopus aegina), lesser blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochaena maculosa), and muddy argonaut (Argonauta hians) were collected from broodstock that had been cultured in the laboratories of the Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Fisheries of Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. The external morphological characteristics of the paralarva of each species were observed and recorded, such as the number and pattern of chromatophores, weight, length, and length index of the mantle. The compiled information would be a useful reference for the identification of cephalopods, especially at species level.