(Prosch, 1847)
Morphology:
A sluggish squid with a coriaceous and firm mantle, which is fused with funnel and head in the occipital area. Mantle length up to 38 cm. Head is short and narrow. Eyes are very big and look aside. There is one tiny cartilaginous tubercle in each mantle-funnel fusion site. Dorsal (middle) component of funnel organ has three conical or finger-like papillae. Arms are strong and have two rows of suckers; there are several considerably enlarged suckers in distal part of lateral arms. Tentacles are long, with a slightly widened club bearing four rows of suckers with denticulate rings. In juveniles and adults anterior edges of fins are attached to lateral sides of mantle far ahead of the site of maximal width of the body. Posterior end of gladius is narrowly conical.
Habitat:
Mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones, juveniles in epipelagic zone.
Distribution:
A North Atlantic boreal-subtropical species; from south-western Greenland, Denmark Strait, Faeroe-Iceland and Faeroe-Shetland Ridges and North Scotland to the Sargasso Sea and Canary Islands (Distr. T. megalops). Rarely found in Caribbean Sea.