Description
Idioteuthis cordiformis is a large, deep water species growing up to one hundred centimetres long. Only a few specimens have been carefully observed and different authorities have described its colour as being pale flesh-pink, yellowish with small reddish-brown chromatophores or having thickly crowded deep brownish chromatophores. It is probably transparent in life with the tissues becoming opaque after death. Like all squids it has five pairs of appendages. Arms 1, 2, 3 and 5 bear suckers with arm 3 being considerably larger than arm 1. Arm 4 is an elongated tentacle which is retractable. It is much longer than the arms and the distal end has a club with many small suckers which decrease in size towards the tip. The club is no wider than the rest of the tentacle.
The cuticle is tough and covered with small, conical tubercules on round plaques. The dark red pigment is found in densely packed chromatophores but there are no photophores. The head is separated from the mantle by a collar and below the head is the opening of the funnel which is ear-shaped. The eyes are large and highly developed, with relatively large lobes of the brain dedicated to their control. The posterior end of the mantle has a semicircular fin on either side which extends three quarters of the way along the mantle.
Read more about this topic: Idioteuthis Cordiformis
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)
“An intentional object is given by a word or a phrase which gives a description under which.”
—Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (b. 1919)
“Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)