Octopus, Cuvier, 1798

Roper, Clyde F. E., Gutierrez, A. & Vecchione, M., 2013, Paralarval octopods of the Florida Current, Journal of Natural History 49 (21 - 24), pp. 1281-1304 : 1284

Octopus “ vulgaris ” Cuvier, 1797

The name Octopus “ vulgaris ” is currently applied to the “common octopus” that occurs throughout the Mediterranean Sea, eastern Atlantic Ocean, western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, as well as in temperate and subtropical waters worldwide. These entities appear to comprise at least three morphologically similar but taxonomically unresolved “species”. As the nomenclatural status of these entities is yet to be fully defined, we place the specific name in quotation marks, referred to as Octopus “ vulgaris ”. It corresponds to the entity that Norman et al. (forthcoming) refer to as Octopus “ vulgaris ” I.

Octopus “ vulgaris ” ( Figure 1 ) was the most common species collected (63 individuals). Its size ranged between 0.9 and 2.7 mm ML, with most specimens at the small end of the size range. The species is characterized by: (a) the presence of subequal length arms, each with three suckers (sucker formula: 2> 1 = 3 or 1> 2 = 3); (b) two or three arm chromatophores in one series; (c) only two chromatophores on the dorsal mantle (in the posterior region); (d) 10–14 chromatophores on the ventral surface of the mantle; (e) four chromatophores on the ventral surface of the funnel; (f) 10 chromatophores on the dorsal surface of the head (four may be shielded by the anterior edge of the mantle, especially in fixed specimens); (g) two chromatophores on the ventral surface of the head medial to the eyes. Larger individuals possess two series of suckers distal to the originally formed three uniserial basal suckers, and the arm chromatophores in one series proximally and two series distally.

Figures

Figure 1. Octopus “vulgaris” paralarval chromatophore patterns and arm sucker development. (A) Chromatophores on dorsal surface of mantle, head and arm pairs I and II; (B) chromatophores on ventral surface of mantle, funnel, head and arm pairs III and IV; (C) oral view of sucker development on Arms I to IV. (Size range examined 0.9–2.7 mm mantle length.)