Author(s): Haiba Essam Gaber, Ramadan AS Ali and Sayed Mohamed Ali

Abstract: Habitat, morphology, and age composition of cuttlefish and squids of Bumba Bay, Southern Mediterranean Sea, were established. The random sample collected consisted of Sepioteuthis lessoniana (40 individuals), Sepia officinalis (31), S. prashadi (18), S. elegans (14), S. orbignyana (3), and three unidentified species designated Sb (6), Sc (4), and Sa (1). Twenty-seven key morphometric parameters measured for individual species were correlated with each other, and related to total length and body weight by regression equations. The cuttlefish and squids, by order of decreasing total weight were Sa, Sb, Sc, S. officinalis, Sepioteuthis lessoniana, S. prashadi, S. elegans and S. orbignyana; by order of decreasing body length, they were: Sa, S. officinalis, Sc, Sb, Sepioteuthis lessoniana, S. prashadi, S. elegans and S. orbignyana. Values of the Fulton condition factor of these species were comparable, ranging from 11.58±1.753 for mixed males/females Sc to 14.52±1.852 for male S. orbignyana. Females of S. officinalis, Sepioteuthis lessoniana and Sb had higher condition factor than males. S. orbignyana and S. prashadi were all males. Based on total length frequency distribution, Sepioteuthis lessoniana and S. officinalis populations consisted of single one-year-old cohorts. Cuttlefish and squids migrate to shallow, sandy, coastal water to breed during February to April.

DOI: 10.22271/fish.2024.v12.i1b.2899

Pages: 117-125  |  668 Views  463 Downloads

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