Cirrothauma murrayi Description Continued

1. Digestive system
   1. Digestive tract lies in a single plane (i.e., no loops or lateral bends of the intestine).
   2. Obvious crop absent.
   3. Caecum exhibits no spiraling.
   4. Esophagus and dorsal side of stomach with heavy purple pigment; intestine unpigmented.
   5. Reduced radula present.
   

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   Figure. Digestive system of C. murrayi. Drawing modified from Aldred et al., 1983.

   

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   Figure. Longitudinal section through the buccal mass of C. murrayi. Unlike the situation in incirrate octopods, the anterior salivary glands are embedded within the buccal mass and the posterior salivary gland (only a single one is present) instead of lying posterior to the cephalic cartilage, rest on and is partially embedded in the buccal mass. Drawing modified from Aldred et al., 1983.

2. Female reproductive system
   1. Largest egg found in the oviducts was 14 x 8.9 mm.
   

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   Figure. Female reproductive system of C. murrayi, 560 mm TL. Drawing modified from Aldred et al., 1983.

3. Male reproductive system
   1. Spermatophore glands highly convoluted.
   2. Accessory glands form a compact unit.
   3. Penis small.
   

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   Figure. Male reproductive system of C. murrayi, 660 mm TL. Drawing modified from Aldred et al., 1983.

4. Shell
   1. The butterfly-shaped shell is drawn from a dorsal view (left). The position of the shell in the octopod is indicated in the dorsal view drawn (right) of the head, body and fins in which the dorsal margins of the saddle and wings can be seen (colored red).
   

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   Figure. The shell of C. murrayi, 660 mm TL, male. Left - Dorsal view of shell. Right - Dorsal view of head, body and arm bases. The red lines approximately mark the dorsal-most edges of the shell wings. Drawings from Aldred et al., 1983.

5. Measurements and counts.

Sex	Female	Male	Female	Male, immature	Male, immature
Mantle length	220	155	130	105	21
Total length	940	660	560	535	67
Posterior body to fin midpoint	95	86	65	52	-
Fin length	210	110	115	114	23
fin width	95	65	78	50	11
Head width	-	72	69	50	8
Eye diameter	-	17	13	12	1.6
Arm I, length	685/685	465/445	420/430	400/405	-/42
Arm II, length	-/735	480/525	420/425	395/385	40/42
Arm III, length	-/-	480/510	420/430	395/385	41/40
Arm IV, length	650/670	470/470	420/420	425/400	-/-
Arm I, sucker number	-/-	36/38	-/-	-/-	-/-
Arm II, sucker number	-/-	37/38	-/-	-/58	-/-
Arm III, sucker number	-/-	38/38	-/-	58/58	-/-
Arm IV, sucker number	-/-	36/38	-/-	62/58	-/-
Gill length	33	12	16	12.5	2.4
Gill width	25	10	12	10.5	1.4
Gill lamellae/demibranch	9	7	7	8	9
Capture latitude	20 10'N	43º 34'N	20º 07'N	49º 49'N	49º 49'N
Capture longitude	21 10'W	12º 58'W	21º 46'W	14º 06'W	14º 06'W

These measurements are taken from Aldred, et al., 1983.

Comments

The above description is taken from Aldred, et al., 1983. The shape and number of radular teeth have not been described. The presence of a radula was detected from histological sections (Aldred, et al. , 1983). The proximal portion of the oviducal gland had sperm packets indicating that this gland, as in incirrates, is a spermatheca in addition to its other functions.

References

Aldred, R. G., M. Nixon and J. Z. Young. 1983. Cirrothauma murrayi Chun, a finned octopod. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond., 301: 1-54.