FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 76, NO. 3 



'tttt  



? 9 



,o 4 



i o 





•••o'w 



P? • o "" . 9 

 o o otPO° 



• 900 O 



10 20 30 10 50 60 



MANTLE LENGTH, mm 



Figure 29, — Vertical distribution of Liocranchia valdiviae. 

 Symbols as in Figure 1. 



the upper few hundred meters. Descent to adult 

 depths begins within the 5- to 15-mm ML size 

 range or occasionally larger. Most specimens 15 to 

 25 mm ML are captured between depths of 500 and 

 700 m, while most animals >25 mm ML are found 

 deeper than 700 m with progressively larger 

 specimens found at progressively greater depths. 

 Diel vertical migration does not occur. Five large 

 specimens captured at depths of 40 to 525 m at 

 night, however, indicate that some specimens oc- 

 casionally wander into the upper depths at night. 

 Mature specimens were not captured. 



Photosensitive Vesicles (Figure 30A) 



Liocranchia valdiviae has a single set of small 

 organs. Each organ is elongate and extends along 

 the posterior side of the optic stalk. Each organ 

 usually consists of three elongated vesicles. A 

 strip of dark brown screening pigment with ir- 

 regular margins extends along much of the an- 



teromedial edge of the ventral half of the organ. 

 The broad dorsal vesicle either lacks screening 

 pigment or has only a trace of it. The slender 

 middle vesicle has a narrow, often discontinuous 

 strip of pigment which widens ventrally. The ven- 

 tral vesicle, which is the largest, has a broad, con- 

 tinuous layer of screening pigment. 



The vesicles of L. valdiviae grow allometrically. 

 At 30 mm ML the vesicles are small, and screening 

 pigment consists of a single small patch on the 

 ventral vesicle. In the largest specimen ( 102 mm 

 ML), the pigment screen is very extensive and 

 covers much of the anterior surface of the dorsal as 

 well as ventral portions of each organ. The dorsal 

 and ventral vesicles in each organ are somewhat 

 broader in this specimen, making the organ more 

 dumbbell shaped. 



Liocranchia reinhardti (Steenstrup 1856) 



Vertical Distribution (Figure 31) 



All 12 juvenile specimens were captured at 

 night. Ten of the 12 specimens were taken in the 

 upper 100 m; the other 2 came from 150 to 200 m. A 

 single mature specimen was captured at 775 m in 

 a Tucker trawl that failed to close on retrieval. 

 This specimen was a female that had recently 

 spawned: remnants of what appeared to be sperm 

 reservoirs were attached to the inner right wall of 

 the mantle near the base of the funnel; the nida- 

 mental glands were gelatinous and extremely 

 swollen; the ovary was depleted; and the muscular 

 tissue of the mantle, fins, head, and arms was 

 flaccid. 



Unfortunately, there are no data on the day 

 distribution of this species in Hawaiian waters. 



Figure 30. — A. Photosensitive vesicles of Liocranchia val- 

 diviae. B, Photosensitive vesicles of L. reinhardti. Abbrevia- 

 tions as in Figure 2, 



90 130 170 



MANTLE LENGTH, mm 



Figure 31, — Vertical distribution of Liocranchia reinhardti. 

 Symbols as in Figure 1, 



600 



