ABSTRACT: "Doratopsis" paralarvae of Chiroteuthis were observed in situ and collected intact using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the eastern North Pacific and using a manned submersible in the western North Atlantic. These specimens, the first with complete tails, show remarkable interspecific differences in tail morphology but little intraspecific variability. Eleven Pacific specimens had very long rigid tails characterized by pairs of large, fluid-inflated lateral pouches separated by 4-6 flat, rounded, lateral lobes of tissue (referred to here as flaps, not finlets). The single Atlantic specimen had a long, rigid tail with long, pointed flaps staggered along its sides, each separated by 4-6 short, pointed flaps; when alive, it had what appeared to be very small pouches at the tips of the long flaps. We attribute the Pacific specimens to Chiroteuthis calyx Young. Of the species known from the western North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic specimen probably is not C. veranyi Ferrusac, C. lacertosa Verrill, nor C. joubini Voss. It is most likely C. capensis Voss or an undescribed species.

A Pacific doratopsis, Chiroteuthis calyx Young. Inks, then swims tail-down. AVI video (1,553 Kb) MPEG video (770 Kb)

Also Chiroteuthis calyx Young. Swimming tail-down; note resemblance to siphonophore that floats by in the foreground. AVI video (1,505 Kb) MPEG video (744 Kb)