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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XIX, April 1965 
DISCUSSION 
Some squid are notoriously fast swimmers; 
others are more planktonic than nektonic. Such 
differences in swimming ability obviously de- 
termine the catch composition by any sampling 
method. Most of the cephalopods collected in 
the midwater trawl were small. Although a 
large Gonatopsis borealis ( DML, 250 mm) 
was captured, there was evidence that smaller 
squids than this readily avoid the midwater 
trawl. For example, Onychoteuthis banksi 
(DML of 100 mm and over) were often ob- 
served around night lights, but were rarely if 
ever captured in midwater trawl collections 
at the same station and time. The average size 
of squid was larger in otter trawl than in mid- 
water trawl collections, and, in general, the 
largest squid were captured in the largest 
trawls. 
Of the identifiable cephalopods found in 
the stomachs of 66 albacore tuna (Thunnus 
alalunga) collected off Oregon during the sum- 
mer of 1962, small gonatids predominated. 
Inasmuch as predators often obtain effective 
samples of cephalopods (Clarke, 1963), this 
agreement between the catches of two inde- 
pendent sampling "devices,” the midwater 
trawl and the albacore, was encouraging. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The author is especially grateful for the gen- 
erous assistance of Gilbert L. Voss, who exam- 
ined specimens of Oregon cephalopods. The 
loan of cephalopods by W. T. Pereyra, U.S. 
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Exploratory 
Fishing and Research Base, Seattle, Washing- 
ton, and by Austin R. Magill, Fish Commission 
of Oregon Research Laboratory, Astoria, Ore- 
gon, is appreciated. This investigation was sup- 
ported by National Science Foundation Grant 
No. GB 1588 and Atomic Energy Commission 
Contract No. AT(45-1 ) 1726. Ship time was 
sponsored by grants from the National Science 
Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. 
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