Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox Batoteuthis skolops, the bush-club squid, is the single rare species in genus Batoteuthis, which is the only genus in family Batoteuthidae. The squid is found in Antarctic waters, and reaches a mantle length of at least Template:Convert. Some features of this creature are a small head, a long tail and a very peculiar tentacle, with six series of suckers on the club.
The genus contains bioluminescent species.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
DistributionEdit
B. skolops occurs in the Southern Ocean.<ref name=GIS>Xavier, J.C. & Rodhouse, P.G. & Trathan, P.N. & Wood, A.G. 1999. A Geographical Information System (GIS) Atlas of cephalopod distribution in the Southern Ocean. Antarctic Science, Published online on May 6, 2004 {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref> Its range may be circumpolar with a strict Antarctic distribution<ref name=SI>Guerreiro, Miguel & Phillips, Richard A & Cherel, Yves & Ceia, Filipe R & Alvito, Pedro & Rosa, Rui & Xavier, José C. 2015. Habitat and trophic ecology of Southern Ocean cephalopods from stable isotope analyses. Marine Ecology Progress Series, published online on June 18, 2015. {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref> and it may live in bathypelagic depths.
EcologyEdit
This squid is eaten by several predators in the Southern Ocean, like albatrosses and sperm whales.
Their diet is unknown, but 15N ratios showed high values in their tissues<ref name="SI"/> which point towards either a high trophic level, or living in great depths (or both).