Confirmation of species, using DNA analysis
Because the DNA of our sphere samples matches that of adult squid identified as I. coindetii from Norwegian waters we infer that the spheres are from I. coindetii. Much has been written about taxonomic difficulties in Illex. The COI tree comprises four clades of Illex, one of which clearly pertains to Illex argentinus (Castellanos, 1960). There are three other described species: Illex coindetii, Illex illecebrosus (Lesueur, 1821), and I. oxygonius Roper, Lu & Mangold, 1969. We labelled our clades A, B, and C, to indicate their correspondence with the findings of Carlini et al.32, and assume that each pertains to one of the described species of Illex. Carlini was unable to match species to clades, but Clade A not only contains the adults identified in this project as I. coindetii, but also contains specimens from the Mediterranean (DQ373941). Since I. coindetii is the only species of Illex known from the Mediterranean, this is further confirmation of the identity of Clade A, and thus our spheres, as Illex coindetii.
Using citizen science from roughly 200 divers secured observations of 90 spheres, including rare tissue samples of four of them, thus enabling a molecular approach towards the first confirmation of egg masses in situ as those of the broadtail shortfin squid, Illex coindetii. Illex coindetii was named in honour of Dr. Coindet from Geneva in 185137. It took 180 years from the description of the adult to identification of its egg mass in the wild. To our knowledge no whole egg mass of Illex spp. has previously been reported from the wild, except by Adolf Naef, who reported on live ommastrephid embryos and paralarvae from Naples, Italy2. The embryos were pulled out of a floating spawn or floating egg mass, or as he describes «Fig. 1 und 2 sind aus einem flottierenden Laich gezogene Larven von Ommatostrephiden». These illustrations were later identified as Illex coindetii by Boletzky et al.26, studying egg development of I. coindetii in the laboratory, claiming «The general characteristics of the embryonic developement observed by us match the figures given by Naef (1923 : plts 9–12) of an unidentified egg mass of a member of the Ommastrephidae (Naef 1921)». However, no drawing of the «laich» was provided.
Challenges collecting in situ material
Huge gelatinous spheres from squid are difficult to study in situ. They are rarely reported, and hard to sample. We have collected 90 sphere observations from ~ 35 years back (~ 1985 to 2019), from an area stretching from the Mediterranean Sea north to the Norwegian Sea, which gives a good illustration on sphere findings of ~ 2.6 sphere observations per year. In addition, the spheres most likely have a short-life span. Life span of spheres spawned and reared in aquaria (between 40 and 120 cm in diameter) of Todarodes pacificus (Steenstrup, 1880) is 5–7 days, with the smallest disintegrating first38.
Sphere shape and size
Gelatinous egg masses of cephalopods vary in size and form among species. Some egg masses are spherical, but there are also examples of oblong structures39,40,41. Sphere size may be up to 4 m in diameter1,5,42. Ringvold and Taite (op. cit.) collected information on a total of 27 spheres recorded in European waters varying from 0.3 to 2 m in diameter, as also for the additional spheres from this study. The four spheres in our study, confirmed to belong to I. coindetii, measured between 0.5 and 1 m in diameter.
Egg mass of another ommastrephid squid, Todarodes sagittatus, has yet to be found in situ. The species is known to be larger than Illex species, and egg mass is also most probably larger. The largest spheres recorded in our study measured up to 2 m in diameter, but none of these were sampled for molecular analysis, nor were pictures taken. It is uncertain whether they could belong to other species e.g., Todaropsis eblanae (Ball, 1841), Todarodes sagittatus or Ommastrephes sp..
Dark streak through core
Almost 60% of the spheres had a dark streak through the center. This feature might be ink, one important characteristic of cephalopods, produced by most cephalopod orders. The ink sac with its ink glands produces black ink containing melanin43. During fertilization, sperm are released—as well as possibly some ink. Spheres with or without ink may be a result of spheres beeing at different maturity stages1, where spheres with ink are freshly spawned. After a while, when embryos starts developing, the whole sphere, including the streak, will start to disintegrate.
Some of us speculate that one function of the streak through the center might serve as visual mimics e.g. of a large fish in order to scare off predators. Other possible functions discussed are also if the streak/structure can be caused by a sphere strengthening structure which is denser or having a higher optical density than the sourrounding structure. A disadvantage with the streak is that it might reveal the whole transparent sphere in the water, visible to e.g. scuba divers.
Function of the gelatinous matrix
Observations in captivity3,44 showed that species within the genus Illex produce gelatinous egg masses while swimming in open water. Gel functions as a buoyancy mechanism that prevents eggs from sinking, and complete density equilibration requires many days under most conditions44. Such a buoyancy mechanism keeps pelagically spawned eggs of Illex in areas where temperatures are most optimal for embryonic development. Optimal environmental conditions will likely have a positive effect on survival of both hatchlings and paralarvae. Despite consistency in where spawning areas are found, interannual variability has been recorded in the main recruitment areas, which could be related to e.g. mesoscale eddies and/or affecting post-hatching dispersal45.
Huge spheres are formed of mucus produced by the nidamental glands, situated inside the mantle cavity of the female46,47. When fully developed, hatchlings emit an enzyme which starts to dissolve the mucus. Eggs and embryos from our four spheres were covered in sticky gelatinous mass, except for a few specimens (from Arendal, collected 7 August, and Søgne) laying in the petri dish outside the sticky gel, in the surrounding sea water following the tissue sample, and might have been old enough to start producing such enzymes.
When at hatching, Illex coindetii eggs are about 2 mm long26,48, in line with other ommastrephids12. The longest of our embryos (from Arendal, collected 7 August) measured ~ 2 mm, a developed embryo with long proboscis, mantle about ½ of total body length, as well as chromatophores, large eyes and funnel visible (Fig. 3). It could possibly be a hatchling.
Abiotic factors and locations
The success and duration of embryonic development is related to water temperature. All observations available to date indicate that successful embryonic development for I. coindetii takes ca. 10–14 days at 15 °C; this temperature corresponds to the median temperature value reported for Mediterranean Sea midwater48. Boletzky et al.26 reports on a temperature minimum above 10 °C. Spheres in the Mediterranean were observed in temperatures ranging between 14 and 24 °C. Watermass temperature for one sphere with recently fertilized eggs (Ålesund sample, embryos stage ~ 3) from Norway was 8 °C. It was also observed north of the existing known distribution range for I. coindetii, in the Norwegian Sea, at 43 m depth. Most spheres from Norway were observed from July and August, in water mass 10–14 °C, with maximum temperature at 18 °C.
It is unknown whether some of the observed spheres had drifted to water layers unsuitable for the development of the eggs, and, eventually, would have died due to unfavourable abiotic conditions (e.g. transport outside the optimal temperature- or depth range for that particular species), but most likely they were in an area where they would survive. Higher occurrence of sphere sightings from 2017 to 2019, could be a combination of higher abundance of these squid in the area as well as increased knowledge regarding our Citizen Science Sphere Project, and thereby increased reports of observations.
Illex coindetii may be considered as an intermittent spawner with a spawning season extending throughout the year, reaching a peak in July–August18.
Our sphere observations from all areas were made from March to October: The earliest sphere which can be documented (to month) in the North Sea to date was observed 27 May (2001), and the last sphere was reported on 20 October (2019), coinciding with a study on adult Illex condetii from the North Sea where the spawning season has been suggested to be between spring and autumn49. However, our data show a peak of sphere observations from July to September (all areas combined), from July to August in Norway and from August to September in the Mediterranean Sea. The two recordings from Galicia in Spain, and Seiano in Italy, were the earliest recordings of the year, observed 24 March (in 2017 and 2019, respectively). For all areas combined, no observations during wintertime (November to February) have been recorded.
Embryonic development and consistencies of spheres
We collected tissue mass of four different spheres of I. coindetii, and embryos in each sphere were at different developmental stages, ~ 3 to 30, according to Sakai et al.36 based on I. argentinus. The sphere walls of the four spheres were also of different consistencies (Table 2); from Ålesund sphere with recently fertilized eggs and firm, transparent sphere wall to Søgne and Arendal spheres (the latter collected 7 August) with developed embryos and disintegrating sphere walls. The remains of the Arendal sphere was hanging as a long «scarf» in the water. Experienced divers, who previously had seen a few spherical spheres, recognized this disintegrating sphere.
Function of spheres
Ommastrephidae fecundity is extremely high, and a single sphere may contain thousands to several hundred thousands of eggs41,50,51,52. The function of the spheres is protection and transport of the offspring by sea currents for paralarval dispersal. Inside these gelatinous structures, the eggs and newly hatched paralarvae are protected from predation by e.g. fish, parasite infection and infestation by crustaceans and protozoans during a first relative short period of their lives5,51. Bottom trawlers operate in spawning areas of squids, exposing them to a risk of egg loss, as also for our fisherman at Askøy, Norway, who caught a sphere in his trawl1,5.
Scientific cruises and fishery
The Institute for Marine Research in Norway started identification of cephalopods on their regular scientific cruises in 2013, but no Illex coindetii was recorded that year. However, data show increasing catches from 2014 to 2019 (unpublished). No spheres are reported from Norway in 2013, but between 1995 to 2010, and from 2015 to 2019, observations were made. Most observations are between 2017 and 2019, indicating more frequent squid visits/spawnings. This coincides with more frequent sphere observations from 2017 to 2019.
The broadtail shortfin squid, Illex coindetii, is probably the most widespread species found on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the Mediterranean Sea12. In the NE Atlantic, it has been reported from Oslofjorden, Norway (59°N);53 and the Firth of Forth, east Scotland54, southwards along the European and African coasts to Namibia, including Hollam’s Bird Island (24°S) and Cape Frio (18°S)55. For example, I. coindetii is periodically very abundant in coastal waters of the eastern North Atlantic off Scotland, Ireland and Spain, where it supports opportunistic fisheries. However, the oceanographic and biological factors that drive this phenomenon, are still unknown12.
Illex coindetii is widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea11, where it is caught commercially mostly by Italian trawlers, usually as a by-catch, but also by recreational fishing, by means of squid jigging. Annual Italian landings during the last five years have varied between two and three thousand tonnes, but with historical landings reaching numbers of more than eight thousand tonnes during the 1980s and 1990s (FAO 2019)15.
In the North Sea, studies show that inshore squids (Alloteuthis subulata (Lamarck, 1798) and Loligo forbesii Steenstrup, 1856) are more abundant than short-finned squid (Illex coindetii, Todaropsis eblanae and Todarodes sagittatus), and I. coindetii is among the rarest ommastrephid species caught49,56. However, two recent studies (1) on summer spawning stock of Illex coindetii in the North Sea57 and (2) I. coindetii recorded from the brackish Baltic Sea58 suggest more frequent visits to this area. Reports on Illex coindetii from Norwegian waters are scarce, but it has been reported from Oslofjorden53, and recently as by-catch from Stavanger area, and by divers from Oslofjorden and Bergen.
Source: Ecology - nature.com
