go to our colleagues Steve Rabalais and Rick 

 Kalke for their invaluable assistance in the field. 

 This manuscript benefited from the critical re- 

 views by Dr. Checkley, J. Holt, and N. Rabalais 

 and from reviews of an earlier draft by two re- 

 viewers. This work was supported by the Bureau 

 of Land Management Contract AA550-GTG-17 

 and the Texas Coastal and Marine Council, Con- 

 tract IAC (78-79)-2183 and IAC (80-8D-0044 to 

 the University of Texas. 



Literature Cited 



BORTONE, S. A., AND C. L. HOLLINGSWORTH. 



1980. Aging red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, with 

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 Bradley, E., and C. E. Bryan. 



1975. Life history and fishery of the red snapper 

 (Lutjanus campechanus) in the northwestern Gulf of 

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 27:77-106. 



Camber, C. I. 



1955. A survey of the red snapper fishery of the Gulf of 



Mexico, with special reference to the Campeche Banks. 



Fla. State Board Conserv. Tech. Ser. 12, 64 p. 

 Carpenter, J. S. 



1965. A review of the Gulf of Mexico snapper fishery. 

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Fable, W. A., Jr. 



1980. Tagging studies of red snapper (Lutjanus 

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 aurorube>is) off the south Texas coast. Contrib. Mar. 

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Flint, R. W. 



1981. Introduction. In R. W. Flint and N. N. Rabalais 

 (editors), Environmental studies of a marine ecosystem, 

 south Texas outer continental shelf, p. 3-14. Univ. 

 Texas Press, Austin. 



Futch, R. B., and G. E. Bruger. 



1976. Age, growth, and reproduction of red snapper in 

 Florida waters. In H. R. Bullis and A. C. Jones 

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Scott A. Holt 

 Connie R. Arnold 



The University of Texas 

 Marine Science Institute 

 Port Aransas Marine Laboratory 

 Port Aransas, TX 7837S 



AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN 



A PELAGIC OCTOPOD, ARGON AUTA SP. 



LINNAEUS 1758, AND AGGREGATE SALPS 



Biologists working in the epipelagic zone of the 

 ocean have reported that representatives of 

 numerous planktonic taxa seem to be closely 

 associated with gelatinous zooplankton, includ- 

 ing hyperiid amphipods (Madin and Harbison 

 1977; Harbison et al. 1977; Laval 1980), 

 gammarid amphipods (Vader 1972), isopods 

 (Barham and Pickwell 1969), decapods (Shojima 

 1963; Thomas 1963; Trott 1972; Bruce 1972; 

 Herrnkind et al. 1976), cyclopoid copepods 

 (Heron 1973), mysids (Bacescu 1973), cirripedes 

 (Fernando and Ramamoorthi 1974), and fish 

 (Mansueti 1963; Janssen and Harbison in press). 



Some symbionts in these groups are morpho- 

 logically adapted to feed principally on the host 

 and/or on the food material which the host col- 

 lects, while others seem to associate more inter- 

 mittently with gelatinous zooplankton, depen- 

 dent on their nutritional state and that of the 

 gelatinous hosts. Accordingly, symbioses may 

 range from specific, structural associations to 

 temporary or casual associations. 



In this note we report a previously undescribed 

 association between a cephalopod and a plank- 

 tonic gelatinous herbivore. While conducting re- 

 search scuba studies of gelatinous zooplankton in 

 the western Gulf of Mexico, we collected juvenile 

 pelagic octopods of the genus Argonauta sp. 

 Linnaeus 1758, in association with aggregate 

 generation salps (Pegea socia (Bosc 1802)). 



The salp chains were composed of 40-60 indi- 

 viduals, each approximately 10 cm in apical/ 

 basal length. Individuals within the aggregate 

 generation of Pegea socia (Bosc 1802) are uni- 

 formly covered with fine reticulated gold pig- 

 mentation and contain orange nucleii. The in- 

 dividuals each have four noticeable body 

 muscles forming two x-shaped groups. Within 

 each group, the pair of muscles are not fused 

 dorsally. Endostyle bands of each individual are 

 slightly arched. 



Two juvenile octopods, a male and female with 

 mantle lengths 8.4 mm and 6.7 mm, respectively, 

 were collected from separate chains at a depth of 

 5-10 m at lat. 26°21'N, long. 95°45'W, on 26 

 February 1981. The males and females of 

 Argonauta sp. have eight circumoral append- 

 ages, none of which are filiform. The body is not 

 flattened, has no fins and no aquiferous pores on 

 the head. The dorsal arms of the female are not 



648 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 80. NO. 3, 1982. 



