Deep and cold: are Boreal and Arctic finned octopods, Stauroteuthis syrtensis and Cirroteuthis muelleri (Cephalopoda, Octopoda, Cirrata), ecological analogues?

TLDR: Stauroteuthis syrtensis and C. muelleri were studied based on representative material collected in Greenland, Iceland, and the Barents Sea and adjacent deep-sea areas as mentioned in this paper .

Abstract: Stauroteuthis syrtensis and Cirroteuthis muelleri were studied based on representative material collected in Greenland, Iceland, and the Barents Sea and adjacent deep-sea areas (96 stations and 165 individuals for S. syrtensis, and 82 stations and 215 individuals for C. muelleri). The species occur on the border of the Arctic and the northern North Atlantic; S. syrtensis is a southern species and C. muelleri is a northern species, in the area from the Denmark and Davis Straits and associated underwater ridges. These species were demonstrated to be ecological analogues since they: a) occupy the same depths; b) reach the same abundance density; c) reach virtually the same biomass density when corrected for size differences; and d) their food spectra largely coincide. Temperature, not depth, is a principal factor that prevents these species from crossing the border between the Arctic and the northern North Atlantic, with mean habitat temperatures of 3.5 ± 0.06 °C for S. syrtensis and 0.3 ± 0.06 °C for C. muelleri. This study provides unprecedented density estimates for the North Atlantic and Arctic Cirrata: the highest in the world ocean in terms of biomass and second highest in terms of numerical abundance. Food spectra of the studied species consist of Calanoida (including eurybathic Paraeucheta spp. and Calanus spp., and deep-sea Bradyidius similis), Mysidacea and Isopoda (including deep-sea Eurycopinae) (Crustacea), and in C. muelleri also Cumacea, Amphipoda (Crustacea) and Polychaeta (Polynoidae). Additionally, this study: a) provides specific growth and morphometric equations; b) provides equations to estimate mantle length (ML) and body mass (BM) from beak measurements, and BM of fresh individuals (for modelling purposes or predators diet analyses) from BM of fixed individuals; c) reports maximum sizes for C. muelleri (ML 170 mm, total length 400 mm, BM 781.0 g); and d) reports findings of rarely encountered juvenile cirrates.