New Records and Observations on the Flapjack Devilfish, 
Opisthoteuthis calif orniana Berry 1 
Walter T. Pereyra 2 
In JUNE 1961 the U. S. Bureau of Commercial 
Fisheries joined with the Atomic Energy Com- 
mission to undertake an investigation of the 
deep-water ocean fauna in the area contiguous 
to the Columbia River mouth at depths from 
50 to 1050 fathoms (91-1920 m) . The main 
objectives of this project are to describe the 
benthic fish and invertebrate communities in- 
habiting the study area, and to define their 
bathymetric distribution on a temporal basis. 
Associated with the faunal investigation is a 
monitoring of the various demersal forms to 
evaluate the biological transport of radionucle- 
ids which may have their origin in Columbia 
River waters. 
Thirty-one specimens of the flapjack devil- 
fish, Opisthoteuthis calif orniana, have been 
captured since initiation of the field program 
in 1961. Records of these captures, together 
with records of this species from other areas 
in the northeastern Pacific, are used here to de- 
scribe the bathymetric and geographic distribu- 
tion of 0 . calif orniana and to augment knowl- 
edge of its biology. 
The flapjack devilfish was described and 
named by Berry in 1949 from two mature fe- 
males captured in 188 fathoms (344 m) by a 
commercial trawler off Humboldt Bay, Califor- 
nia. A second paper by Berry (1952) illus- 
trates and gives additional descriptions of these 
specimens. A male and a juvenile female flap- 
jack devilfish were taken two years later in 280 
fathoms (512 m) off Humboldt County, Cali- 
fornia, also by a commercial trawler. The male 
specimen was described in detail, especially with 
1 The work was supported by the cooperative Bu- 
reau of Commercial Fisheries-U. S. Atomic Energy 
Commission deep-water investigation of the benthic 
marine fauna in the area contiguous to the Columbia 
River mouth. Manuscript received December 11, 1963. 
2 Fishery Biologist, Exploratory Fishing and Gear 
Research Base, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, U. S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Seattle, Washington. 
respect to the development of secondary sexual 
characteristics (Berry, 1954 and 1955). The 
four specimens reported by Berry (two mature 
females, one mature male, and a juvenile fe- 
male) represent the only previous records of 
this species known to the author. 
Throughout the world, six other species of 
this genus have been described. Two species 
are known from the Atlantic (the genus type 
O. agassizii Verrill, 1883 and an apparent pe- 
lagic species, O. medusoides Thiele, 1915), one 
from the Indian ocean off the west coast of 
Sumatra (O. extensa Thiele, 1915), two from 
Australian waters ( 0 . persephone Berry, 1918 
and O. pluto Berry, 1918), and one which has 
been taken repeatedly in Japanese waters ( 0 . 
depressa Ijima and Ikeda, 1895). 
Despite wide interest in the taxonomy and 
comparative morphology of this divergent ceph- 
alopod group (Robson, 1925 and 1929), very 
little is known of their feeding habits, mode of 
life, or behavior. As late as 1952 Berry (p. 187) 
wrote of his hope ". . . that we may not have 
long to wait before further examples of so 
strange and interesting an animal will be cap- 
tured and that something may then be learned 
of its appearance in the living state, its behavior 
and habits.” 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
I am grateful to Dr. Paul Illg, Zoology De- 
partment, University of Washington; Mr. Wil- 
liam High, International Pacific Halibut Com- 
mission; Mr. Clifford Fiscus, Marine Mammals 
Branch, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; and 
Miss Patsy McLaughlin, Oceanography Depart- 
ment, University of Washington, for loaning 
specimens and/or data for several Gulf of 
Alaska and Washington coast records. The loan 
of specimens of Opisthoteuthis depressa and 
Stauroteuthis alhatrossi from the U. S. National 
Museum by Dr. Fenner Chase and Dr. Harold 
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