“Dreamer holothurians” in the north

Sigwart, Julia D.; Ogawa, Akito; Chen, Chong

doi:10.1007/s12526-022-01314-z

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

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“…At least six species of deep-sea holothurians and fishes from 11 orders adopt a bentho-pelagic life style as adults [30,31,62]. Their bodies have gelatinous consistencies and relatively large sizes (50-400 mm in length in holothurians and 50-1800 mm in fishes) [30,31,62,63]. Mean body sizes of Cirroteuthidae are between those of bentho-pelagic holothurians and fishes (170-1700 mm TL) [3,22,[42][43][44].…”

Section: (C) Pelagic-benthic Migrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miles down for lunch: deep-sea in situ observations of Arctic finned octopods Cirroteuthis muelleri suggest pelagic–benthic feeding migration

Golikov,

Stauffer,

Schindler

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Deep-sea cephalopods are diverse, abundant, and poorly understood. The Cirrata are gelatinous finned octopods and among the deepest-living cephalopods ever recorded. Their natural feeding behaviour remains undocumented. During deep-sea surveys in the Arctic, we observed Cirroteuthis muelleri . Octopods were encountered with their web spread wide, motionless and drifting in the water column 500–2600 m from the seafloor. Individuals of C. muelleri were also repeatedly observed on the seafloor where they exhibited a repeated, behavioural sequence interpreted as feeding. The sequence (11–21 s) consisted of arm web spreading, enveloping and retreating. Prey capture happened during the enveloping phase and lasted 5–49 s. Numerous traces of feeding activity were also observed on the seafloor. The utilization of the water column for drifting and the deep seafloor for feeding is a novel migration behaviour for cephalopods, but known from gelatinous fishes and holothurians. By benthic feeding, the octopods benefit from the enhanced nutrient availability on the seafloor. Drifting in the water column may be an energetically efficient way of transportation while simultaneously avoiding seafloor-associated predators. In situ observations are indispensable to discover the behaviour of abundant megafauna, and the energetic coupling between the pelagic and benthic deep sea.

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