PLANKTON OF THE GULF OF MAINE 
113 
spring, summer, and early autumn Loligo is extremely common both south and 
north of Cape Cod, passing part of the time on or near the bottom, but often seen 
swimming in shoals near the surface, and it is taken in great numbers in fish traps 
and weirs and even in eelpots. Many specimens have likewise been dredged. Along 
the shores of southern New England it breeds from May until September, or later. 
I am informed by W. F. Clapp that he has frequently found its eggs in Duxbury 
and Plymouth Bays from June until October, and in the Bay of Fundy its eggs and 
larvae are reported by Doctor Leim in August and September. Since Verrill (1882) 
notes the capture of considerable numbers in breeding condition near Cape Ann as 
early as May in 1878, it is safe to credit it with a breeding season enduring throughout 
the warmer half of the year over the major part of its range. The eggs, which 
adhere together in bunches of hundreds of gelatinous capsules, attached to some 
fixed object, are laid chiefly (perhaps not exclusively) in depths varying from just 
below tide mark down to 50 meters or so and have been trawled in large numbers 
on ever}^ sort of bottom south of Cape Cod (Verrill, 1882; Sumner, Gsburn, and 
Cole, 1913a). It has been estimated that individuals of the European representa- 
tives of this genus may lay as many as 40,000 eggs. 
According to Verrill, hatching takes place from June until October south of 
Cape Cod; probably during these same months along the shores of Massachusetts 
Bay, according to Mr. Clapp’s observations. We owe to Verrill (1882) an extensive 
series of measurements of the young squids at various seasons, and though he found 
it difficult to follow their rate of growth, owing to the protracted period over which 
spawning endures, his general conclusion was that June-hatched squids attain a 
mantle length of 60 to 85 millimeters by November; that the smallest have grown 
to about 150 to 180 millimeters when they reappear the next May; that the later- 
hatched summer broods are about 60 to 80 millimeters long in the following spring; 
and that the largest adult breeding squids are probably from 2 to 4 years old. The 
young squids, from less than 6 up to 25 or more millimeters in length, often swim near 
the surface, where they have been taken in immense quantities with the tow net. 
Mr. Leim informs me that he towed young Loligo 2 to 4 millimeters long in Cobe- 
quid Bay, Bay of Fundy, in September, 1921. Nevertheless, although young Loligo 
must be produced in myriads on their main breeding grounds, the larval stages are 
so closely confined to the coastal or inclosed waters of their nativity during their 
first summer that we have never taken them even in Massachusetts Bay (though 
they spawn abundantly in its tributaries) or anywhere in the open Gulf. 
It is not known whether this squid moves offshore as the water chills in autumn 
or whether it passes the cold season inshore on the bottom. There is, however, some 
slight presumption in favor of the latter alternative, for it seems to be strictly a 
coastal form, which, so far as I can learn, has never been reported from the offshore 
banks in summer or from deep water. 
North of Cape Ann Loligo is always far outnumbered, and, except for the small 
Bay of Fundy colony, is practically replaced east of Penobscot Bay by IJlex illece- 
brosa , 53 a squid much resembling it in appearance but easily distinguished (indeed it 
•• This squid has often been referred to the genus Ommastrcphes. Recent students of the cephalopods, however, unite in 
referring it to Illex, a genus founded by Steenstrup for the reception of its European relative. I. coindeti. For a recent discussion o 
IUex see Pfeffer (190S and 1912). 
