Sepiolinae (mollusca: cephalopoda) from the Strait of Sicily

Abstract

Nine species belonging to three genera of the subfamily Sepiolinae (Leach, 1817) were collected in the Strait of Sicily by two series of bottom trawl surveys carried out during the years 1985-87 and 1992: Sepiola rondeletii, Sepiola intermedia, Sepiola ligulata, Sepiola robusta, Sepiola affinis, Sepietta oweniana, Sepietta neglecta, Sepietta obscura and Rondeletiola minor. For each species, abundance, distribution, sex ratio and maturity condition were analysed. S. oweniana was the most abundant species, followed by R. minor, while the single record of S. ligulata indicates that the species is rare in the area. The bathymetric distributions observed generally agree with what is known for the species from the literature, but present data support the extension of the bathymetric range inhabited by S. robusta (down to 498 m). Mature specimens represented 81.8% of the examined sample, and no substantial differences in the percentages of mature individuals with season was noticeable; this supports the existence of an extended reproductive period in the Sepiolines.