Abralia redfieldi

G. Voss, 1955

Mantle rather narrow, conical, without tail. Fin tongue-like or oval in larvae and juveniles, heart-shaped in adults, reaching tip of mantle. Arms of moderate length, with 2 rows of suckers in larvae; 2 rows of hooks and 2 rows of small suckers on tips in adults. Tentacles long, robust, club in larvae and juveniles with 4 rows of suckers, in adults with 3 hooks in ventralmost row and 2 rows of suckers in its central part. Buccal membrane pink.
Photophores on ventral mantle in approx. 10 transverse rows in juveniles, diffuse in adults; in 9-10 longitudinal rows on ventral surface of head; in 4 longitudinal rows on base and 3 on tips of ventral arms. On eyeball, ventrally, 5 photophores, all round, 1st, 3rd and 5th larger than 2nd and 4th. In larvae one (central) appears first, then 3, then all 5. Larvae distinguished from those of Abraliopsis by short ventral arms without large terminal photophores; ventral mantle photophores in transverse rows, and thick tentacular stems are also characteristic. Egg size supposedly about 0.8 mm. ML up to 35 mm.

A nerito-oceanic species, distributed mostly over the slope and not far from islands, but also in the open ocean in equatorial waters. The larva of a related nerito-oceanic Atlantic species, Abralia (Asteroteuthis) veranyi (Rüppell, 1844), was described as Enoploion eustictum Pfeffer, 1912. Abralia (Pygmabralia) grimpei G. Voss, 1958, was found in the Gulf Stream off Florida. Abralia (Heterabralia) siedleckyi Lipinski, 1983, was found over the Schmitt-Ott Seamount in the SE Atlantic.

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