Mastigoteuthis

**GPO87** · Apr 11, '12, 3:18am

Ok, so Heather is WAAAY more qualified to talk about this than me. Mastigoteuthis is commonly known as the whiplash squid, because the tentacles lack clubs (giving them the appearence of whips!)

Click image for larger version.

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Info at:
http://tolweb.org/Mastigoteuthidae/19453
... or just PM Heatherbraid. She knows AAAALLL!!!!

**GPO87** · Apr 11, '12, 3:21am

The screenshot above is from video footage of Mastigo's
You can see more video's of these awesome squid here!

**DWhatley** · Apr 12, '12, 12:46pm

Any idea how long the mantle is? Since they think it eats copepods, I assume it is a small animal but I could not find any sizing info except that the fins are "large" and I assume that was a proportionate statement.

**Heather Braid** · Apr 16, '12, 5:43am

The size is quite variable, and it's hard to tell exactly how big they get we don't seem to have all that many mature adult specimens in the collections here. But most of them (in New Zealand anyway) seem to get up to around 15cm mantle length. But then there is Idioteuthis cordiformis which can have a mantle length of up to two meters and weigh around 75kg. But I haven't heard of them eating anything other than copepods and krill, and if you look at their tentacles it doesn't seem like they could catch much else.