| Cape Hope Squid | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | Teuthida |
| Family: | Loliginidae |
| Genus: | Loligo |
| Species: | L. reynaudii |
| Binomial name | |
| Loligo reynaudii d'Orbigny, 1841 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Loligo reynaudii, commonly known as the Cape Hope Squid, is a large squid belonging to the family Loliginidae. In South Africa it is known as either calamari or chokka. It was previously treated as a subspecies of Loligo vulgaris, the European squid.[1]
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It occurs in coastal South African waters from False Bay to Port Elizabeth and as far as Port Alfred. This species lives from sea level to depths of 200 m (660 ft).
This animals has an elongated slender body with eight short arms and two very long retractile tentacles, all of which have suckers. It has relatively long diamond-shaped fins, which run more than half the length of the mantle. Its mantle is up to 40 cm (16 in) long. Its eyes are covered with a membrane which is part of the skin covering the head.
The South African squid feeds on small fishes. It forms dense breeding aggregations in bays between Cape Point and Port Elizabeth in summer, laying sausage-shaped bunches of egg bundles on the sea floor. The young are transported west by the Agulhas Current and mature on the Agulhas Bank. They then migrate eastwards as adults back to their spawning grounds.
The species is extensively exploited by commercial fisheries. Its natural predators include: Short-tail stingray, Diamond ray, Spotted ragged-tooth shark, Cape fur seal, cat shark and numerous species of fishes.