A description of three new bathyteuthid squid species from the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Currently, three species in the squid family Bathyteuthidae are recognized as valid: Bathyteuthis abyssicola Hoyle, 1885, Bathyteuthis bacidifera Roper, 1968, and Bathyteuthis berryi Roper, 1968. Using morphology and DNA sequencing (COI, 16S), we discovered three additional species of bathyteuthids collected from the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent basins between 2009 and 2018. Two of the newly discovered species share the absence of arm-base photophores as well as differences in arm-sucker and buccallappet sucker counts. In the third species, the adult female individual has arm-base photophores but the two juveniles (sex undetermined) do not. All examined individuals of this species exhibited <1% divergence rate for the COI locus. We describe and name the three new species based on both morphological and molecular characters