Histioteuthis is a genus of squid in the family Histioteuthidae. It goes by the common name cock-eyed squid, because in all species the right eye is normal-sized, round, blue and sunken; whereas the left eye is at least twice the diameter of the right eye, tubular, yellow-green, faces upward, and bulges out of the head.
Histioteuthis | |
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A member of the genus Histioteuthis. Eye asymmetry is observable. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Order: | Oegopsida |
Family: | Histioteuthidae |
Genus: | Histioteuthis Orbigny, 1841[1] |
Type species | |
Cranchia bonnellii Férussac, 1834
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Species | |
17 species and subspecies, see text | |
Synonyms[1] | |
In 2017, researchers at Duke University established that Histioteuthis uses its larger eye to see ambient sunlight, and its smaller eye to detect bioluminescence from prey animals.[2]
The name is composed of the Greek histion (ἱστίον, "sail", a large webbed membrane between six of the arms, in some species) and teuthis ("squid").[3][4]
The genus contains bioluminescent species.[5]
Histioteuthis, sail, and cuttlefish
Histioteuthis is characterized by such a large membrane ("sail") [...] This "sail" is a strong, muscular cutaneous membrane which surrounds the 1st, 2nd and 3rd arms