Cephalopod Distribution in Iskenderun Bay (Eastern Mediterranean-Turkey)

Abstract

This paper is the first comprehensive work on the biology and distribution of cephalopods in the Iskenderun Bay area of Mediterranean Sea. Information on the distribution of Cephalopod fauna was collected through 45 deep-trawl surveys carried out on the commercial trawl fishery waters (between 20 and 200 m) between March 2004 and May 2005. During the study, a total of 1101 individuals belonging to eight species; two cuttlefishes, two squids and four octopods, were recorded. Mean value of dorsal mantle lengths and body weights of the captured species were; 10.74 ± 0.10 cm and 126.42 ±3.24 g for Sepia officinalis, 4.2 cm and 4.68 g for Sepia elegans, 15.3±0.42 cm and 87.68 ±6.35 g for Loligo vulgaris, 10.93 ±0.28 cm and 48.17 ±4.52 g for Illex coindetii, 8.08 ±0.13 cm and 99.17 ±4.01 g for Eledone moschata, 13.5 cm and 281.46 g for Eledone cirrhosa, 10.25±0.45 cm and 370.33 ±53.89 g for Octopus vulgaris, 12.71±0.64 cm and 405.59 ±51.69 g for Octopus macropus. In addition the present study also provides information on dorsal mantle length -body weight relationship and biology of the species found in this particular area.

Length weight relationships of coleoid cephalopods from the eastern Mediterranean

“…Three species (except S. pharaonis ) investigated in this study showed negative allometry with b values ranged between 2.159 (in S. elegans ( M )) and 2.875 (in S. officinalis ( F )). As reported by previous studies from whole Mediterranean Sea 23 – 28 , they showed negative allometry as found in this study except one from eastern Mediterranean Sea ( b = 3.16 for S. officinalis by Akyol and Metin 26 ). There are great variances between the b values given for different species by different studies as seen in Table 3 in Supplementary Material, possibly caused by temperature and food availability or sampling methodology.…”

“…All squids investigated except Todarodes sagittatus, Ommastrephes bartramii and Abralia veranyi showed negative allometry. b values given by different studies of Alloteuthis media, Loligo forbesi, Illex coindetii , Todaropsis eblanae and Todarodes sagittatus were found similar to each other and to this study whereas that of Loligo vulgaris had variances with Duysak et al 28 , probably caused by difference in sampling period and/or selectivity of the gears used (see Table 3 in Supplementary Material).…”

A checklist and some new records on the teuthofauna of Türkiye in the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea

“…Although faunistic cephalopod studies were mainly based on trawling operations in Turkish seas (Gücü and Bingel, 1994;Salman and Katağan, 2004;Duysak et al, 2004Duysak et al, , 2008, some additional records were identified from paralarva and juvenile specimens in plankton samples (Salman, 2012). Besides that, cephalopod beaks could be seen in the stomachs of predatory fishes (Karakulak et al, 2009;Salman and Karakulak, 2009) and cetaceans (Öztürk et al, 2007;Dede et al, 2016;Tonay et al, 2021).…”

“…; 3=Salman et al (1999); 4=Salman (2002);5= Duysak et al (2004); 6=Salman and Katağan (2004);7= Öztürk et al, (2007); 8=Duysak et al (2008); 9=Karakulak et al (2009); 10=Salman and Karakulak (2009); 11=Salman (2012); 12=Dede et al (2016);13= Jereb et al (2016); 14= Gökoğlu et al (2021); 15= Tonay et al (2021); 16= Üstüner and Gökoğlu (2022); 17= Present study Order: TEUTHIDA Family: CHIROTEUTHIDAE Chiroteuthis veranii (A. Férussac, 1834) Two specimens were found in Antalya Bay (36°41'N-31°14'E) at 654 m depth in the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea during 2022 surveys. Only one has a whole body (ML= 64 mm) (ESFM-CEP-2022-001).…”