Editing Bigfin squid (section)

== Physical specimens ==

The first record of this family comes from a specimen (''[[Magnapinna talismani]]'') caught off the [[Azores]] on 10 August 1883.<ref name="J&F">{{cite book|last1=Fischer|first1=H.|last2=Joubin|first2=L.|year=1906|title=Expéditions scientifiques du Travailleur et du Talisman|language=fr|chapter=Céphalopodes|volume=7|pages=313–353|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/176854#page/7/mode/1up|access-date=25 June 2023}}</ref> Due to the damaged nature of the find, little information could be discerned, and it was classified as a [[mastigoteuthid]], first as ''Chiroteuthopsis talismani''<ref name="J&F" /> and later as ''Mastigoteuthis talismani''. In 1956, a similar squid ([[Magnapinna sp. C|''Magnapinna'' sp. C]]) was caught in the South Atlantic, but little was thought of it at the time. The specimen was illustrated in [[Alister Hardy]]'s ''The Open Sea'' (1956), where it was identified as ''Octopodoteuthis sicula''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hardy|first=Alister Clavering|year=1956|title=The Open Sea: Its Natural History|volume=1. The World of Plankton|location=London|publisher=Collins|at=p. 290, fig. 96c|oclc=2680212}}</ref>
[[File:Magnapinna talismani.jpg|left|thumb|A juvenile ''[[Magnapinna talismani]]'', the first known species from the family, with damaged arms]]
During the 1980s, two additional immature specimens were found in the Atlantic ([[Magnapinna atlantica|''Magnapinna'' sp. A]]), and three more were found in the Pacific (''[[Magnapinna pacifica]]''). Researchers [[Michael Vecchione]] and [[Richard E. Young|Richard Young]] were the chief investigators of the finds, and eventually linked them to the two previous specimens, erecting the family Magnapinnidae in 1998, with ''[[Magnapinna pacifica]]'' as the [[type species]].{{sfn|Vecchione|Young|1998|pp=429–437}} Of particular interest was the very large fin size, up to 90% of the mantle length, that was responsible for the animals' common name.

A single specimen of a fifth species, [[Magnapinna sp. B|''Magnapinna'' sp. B]], was collected in 2006. ''Magnapinna'' sp. A was described as ''[[Magnapinna atlantica]]'' in 2006.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Vecchione | first1 = M. | last2 = Young | first2 = R. E. | doi = 10.2988/0006-324X(2006)119[365:TSFMMC]2.0.CO;2 | title = The squid family Magnapinnidae (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) in the Atlantic Ocean, with a description of a new species |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232668083 | journal = Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington | volume = 119 | issue = 3 | pages = 365–372| year = 2006 | s2cid = 85820632 |access-date = February 13, 2023}}</ref>

The genus was described from two juveniles and [[paralarva]], none of which had developed the characteristic long arm tips. However, they did all have large fins, and were therefore named "magna pinna", meaning "big fin".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Hanlon |first1=Roger T. |title=Octopus, squid & cuttlefish: the worldwide illustrated guide to cephalopods |last2=Allcock |first2=Louise |last3=Vecchione |first3=Michael |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-78240-570-2 |location=Brighton |oclc=1064625063}}</ref>