FoUett kindly reviewed some photographs that we 

 took of sharks, thus confirming our identifica- 

 tions, and checked an earlier version of this paper. 



Literature Cited 



AINLEY, D. G., AND T. J. LEWIS. 



1974. The history of Farallon Island marine bird popula- 

 tions, 1854-1972. Condor 76:432-446. 



Bass, a. J. 



1978. Problems in studies of sharks in the southwest 

 Indian Ocean. In E. S. Hodgson and R. F. Mathewson 

 (editors), Sensory biology of sharks, skates, and rays, 

 p. 545-549. Off. Nav. Res., Arlington. 

 BOLIN, R. L., AND D. P ABBOTT. 



1963. Studies on the marine climate and phytoplankton 

 of the central coastal area of California, 1954-1960. 

 Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 9:23-45. 

 LE BOEUF, B. J., D. G. AINLEY, AND T. J. LEWIS. 



1974. Elephant seals on the Farallones: population struc- 

 ture of an incipient breeding colony. J. Mammal. 55: 

 370-385. 

 O'GowER, A. K., AND A. R. Nash. 



1978. Dispersion of the Port Jackson shark in Australian 



waters. InE.S. Hodgson and R. F. Mathewson ( editors). 



Sensory biology of sharks, skates, and rays, p. 529-544. 



Off. Nav. Res., Arlington. 



PIEROTTI, R. J., D. G. AINLEY, T. J. LEWIS, AND M. C. COULTER. 



1977. Birth of a California sea lion on southeast Farallon 

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David G. Ainley 



Craig S. Strong 



Harriet R. Huber 



T. James Lewis 



Stephen H. Morrell 



Point Reyes Bird Observatory 

 Stinson Beach, CA 94970 



IN SITU OBSERVATIONS ON 



REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF 



THE LONG-FINNED SQUID, LOLIGO PEALEI 



There are several published accounts of reproduc- 

 tive behavior, including copulation and egg laying, 

 of the long-finned squid, Loligo pealei Lesueur, in 

 the laboratory (Drew 1911; Arnold 1962); but with 

 the exception of Stevenson's (1934) field observa- 

 tions of L. pealei s behavior around an egg mass, no 

 in situ observations of egg-laying behavior have 

 been documented for this species. Field and 

 laboratory observations of reproductive behavior 

 have been made for the California market squid, 

 L. opalescens (McGowan 1954; Fields 1965; Hobson 

 1965; Hurley 1977), the tropical arrow squid, L. 



plei (Waller and Wicklund 1968), L. bleekeri 

 (Hamabe and Shimizu 1957), L. vulgaris (Tardent 

 1962), the broad squid, Sepioteuthis bilineata 

 (Larcombe and Russell 1971, and S. sepioidea (Ar- 

 nold 1965). However, each species' in situ egg- 

 laying behavior differed from the behavior we ob- 

 served in L. pealei. 



Observations 



Each summer L. pealei and its egg masses are 

 common in shallow coves along the coast of Rhode 

 Island, such as our study site at Fort Wetherill on 

 Conanicut Island in Narragansett Bay. Scuba di- 

 vers, including ourselves, have observed squid to 

 be numerous in these areas, particularly at night 

 when they occur singly or in small, loosely formed 

 schools. 



On 16 June 1979, at 1230 h on an incoming tide 

 (temperature 14.5°- 15.0° C, depth 6 m) using scuba 

 we observed a large squid egg mass (50-60 cm 

 across) attached to one side of a small boulder. The 

 surrounding area was a sandy/mud bottom with 

 unattached fragments of the seaweeds Ulva lac- 

 tuca , Laminaria sp. , and Porphyra sp. Because the 

 egg mass was larger than the 12-15 cm masses we 

 regularly see in this area while diving, we spent 

 some time observing it. Squid began to appear at 

 the limit of the water visibility (about 4.0 m) and 

 moved toward the egg mass in a semicircle. They 

 stopped about 2.5-3,0 m from the mass and re- 

 mained stationary approximately 1-m off the bot- 

 tom. The squid were in well-defined pairs with the 

 smaller females (mantle length 16-18 cm) parallel 

 to and on the left of each male (20-22 cm) as we 

 faced them (Figure 1). Eight pairs were visible at 

 that time. The animals had moderate pigmenta- 

 tion over the mantles, but we did not observe the 

 distinctive spots of color at the base of the arms as 

 were reported by Arnold (1962), nor did we observe 

 color changes during the observation period. Con- 

 trary to McGowan's (1954) observations on L. 

 opalescens , all of the animals appeared to be in 

 good condition; no torn epithelium was obvious 

 and no dead or dying individuals had been seen in 

 the area of the egg mass or anywhere else in the 

 cove during the hour-long dive. 



One pair of squid at a time approached the egg 

 mass with their arms held forward and tentacles 

 extended. Because of our position directly facing 

 the squid, it was impossible to observe the begin- 

 nings of an egg finger protruding from the funnel 

 as Drew (1911) and Tardent (1962) had observed in 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78. NO. 4, 1981. 



945 



