-92- 



Among some Southern Ocean species such as Todarodes pacif icus , 

 Illex illecebrosus , I. argentinus , and Dosidicous gigas , 

 the inshore breeding migration (Voss, 1973) presents the only 

 available evidence on movement patterns. In Newfoundland, 

 Squires (1957) indicated that Illex illecebrosus migrates 

 seasonally over the Grand Banks, eventually heading inshore 

 to breed in a movement pattern led by the males. The ex- 

 tent of this movement in related Antarctic species is not 

 known. 



The occurrence of squid beaks in the stomachs of 

 surface feeding birds, suggests these cephalopods are 

 present in surface water layers periodically. Because squid 

 are also captured by trawls in deeper layers, they must 

 undertake rather extensive vertical migrations. Clarke 

 (1977) stated this movement occurs primarily at night and 

 may result in nutrient redistribution. 



3. Standing Stock 



Information on abundance of cephalopods is extremely 

 sparse. As previously stated, no effective sampling 

 techniques have been developed to allow reliable standing 

 stock estimation. Presently, no cephalopod fisheries exist 

 in the Southern Ocean. However, in adjacent New Zealand 

 waters, a fishery was established in 1972 (Nasu, 1978), 

 and a sizeable fishery could also develop adjacent to 

 Argentina. Development of Southern Ocean fisheries and 

 supplemental research programs are necessary to provide 

 catch data for stock assessment (Everson, 1977). 



4. Food Habits 



Little is known about squid food habits. Marr (1962) 

 and Dell (1965) noted that squid are major krill predators, 

 and Filippova (19 72) observed that many squid species ex- 

 hibit specialized adaptations for krill feeding. Among 

 these he listed Kondakovia longimana , whose distribution 

 never extends beyond the range of krill. 



The impact of squid predation on krill populations 

 cannot be estimated without reliable data on squid biomass. 

 Acknowledging this lack of direct production and biomass 

 data, Everson (1977) presents an annual estimate combining 

 information from Laws (1977a) and Croxall (unpublished MS) 

 for annual squid consumption by birds, whales, and seals. 

 The total eaten by these groups excluding sperm whales 

 (which according to Clarke (1966) eat squid that do not prey 

 on krill) may be 13 million metric tons (Table 22) . 

 Assuming a krill to squid conversion rate of approximately 



