THE ANATOMY OF THE COMMON SQUID, 



LOLIOO PEALII, LESUEUR. 



The Common Squid , Loligo pealii , is a littoral species confined to the 

 Eastern coast of the United States. Its exact geographical range has not been 

 determined , but it is found from Maine to South Carolina and is so abundant 

 between Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras that it is justly called the "Common 

 Squid". North of Cape Cod the "Short-finned Squid", Ommastrephes, is more 

 common , and south of Cape Hatteras members of other species of Loligo are 

 more numerous. 



The bathymetric distribution of the species is also undetermined, but the 

 fact that its eggs, which are attached to objects on the bottom , have been 

 dredged from water 25 to 50 fathoms deep indicates that squid go at least 

 to that depth. 



Our knowledge of the habits of the squid is very incomplete. Little is 

 known of the whereabouts of the squid during the Winter and early Spring- 

 but about the last of April or the first of May large schools , often containing 

 thousands of squid , appear along the shore and are taken by hundreds of barrels 

 in the weirs. This first "run" is believed by the New Jersey fisherman to 

 precede the "run" of the Sea Bass. After it, the large schools are not common, 

 but throughout the Spring and Summer large schools occasionally enter the 

 traps. A few squid are usually caught each week until the weirs are taken in 

 to save them from the November storms. The egg clusters and the young 

 squid appear two or three weeks after the "run" of the large schools and are 

 common until cold weather, when both old and young squid become scarce. 



Our knowledge is not sufficient to justify precise and positive assertions 

 about the life history of the squid , but the observations stated above tend to 

 justify the belief that the following sketch is fairly correct. 



The squid probably spend the winter scattered at the bottom l ) in moderately 

 deep water, and as Spring approaches they form large schools that come into 

 the shallow water. After a short time the large schools are broken up into 



i That this statement is not true in reference to the Short-finned Squid, Ommastrepes, is shown 

 by the fact that in November and December 1902 large quantities ran ashore on Cape Cod and in October 

 60 barrels were taken in a single haul of one trap. Small quantities of the common squid are brought 

 into the markets at New York during the winter. 



