Teuthowenia megalops is one of the three species currently classified under the
genus Teuthowenia. They are included under the
subfamily Taoniinae of the
family Cranchiidae. The species does not have widely used
common names, but the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations gives them the names of Atlantic cranch squid in
English,
encornet-outre Atlantique in
French,
cranquiluria Atlantica in
Spanish, and ''totano tutt'occhi
in Italian. Like other genera belonging to Cranchiidae, Teuthowenia megalops'' has gone through numerous and convoluted taxonomic and
nomenclatural revisions. The
type specimens were
paralarvae obtained off the
Faeroe Islands. In 1850, the Danish
malacologist Otto Andreas Lowson Mörch pointed out mistakes in Prosch's original description. Later in 1861, Steenstrup established the new genus
Taonius, including
Loligo pavo (now
Taonius pavo) and his species
Leachia hyperborea (as
Taonius hyperboreus) within it. In the same work, he was also the first to point out that Prosch had made the error of including juveniles of
Gonatus along with his diagnosis of
Cranchia megalops. In 1879, the American malacologist
George Washington Tryon included
Teuthowenia megalops under the genus
Cranchia, together with
Teuthowenia maculata (then
Cranchia maculata). But he separated Steenstrup's
Taonius hyperboreus to the genus
Loligopsis along with
Taonius pavo. 's
Die Cephalopoden der Plankton-Expedition (1912) In 1881, the American zoologist
Addison Emery Verrill established the genus
Desmoteuthis for a new species he named
Desmoteuthis tenera caught off
New England. He also recovered several specimens of
Taonius pavo which he incorrectly identified as
Taonius hyperboreus, leading him to also include
Taonius hyperboreus under his new genus as
Desmoteuthis hyperborea. In 1884 and subsequently in 1886, the British zoologist William Evans Hoyle recognized Verrill's mistake after examining Verrill's well-illustrated paper. He
synonymized Verrill's genus
Desmoteuthis back to Steenstrup's
Taonius. He also tentatively identified Verrill's
Desmoteuthis tenera as a possible synonym of
Taonius hyperboreus. In 1884, the German zoologist
Georg Johann Pfeffer established the genus
Megalocranchia, using the
type species Megalocranchia maxima. Though the type specimens were destroyed in
World War II, examinations of his description and illustrations reveal that
Megalocranchia maxima was definitely not from the genus
Teuthowenia. Despite this, Pfeffer synonymized
Megalocranchia with Verrill's
Desmoteuthis in 1900. He mostly followed Hoyle's conclusions regarding
Taonius pavo but retained the genus
Desmoteuthis for
Taonius hyperboreus. He also raised the Prosch's subgenus
Owenia to genus level, thus renaming
Cranchia megalops to
Owenia megalops. However, the name
Owenia was already
preoccupied. Thus in 1910, the German zoologist
Carl Chun established the genus
Teuthowenia in its place, from Greek τευθίς (
teuthis, "squid") + Owen, as in the original name. Chun also first described
Desmoteuthis pellucida (now
Teuthowenia pellucida) from the same work. In 1912, the American zoologist
Samuel Stillman Berry agreed with Hoyle in concluding that Verrill's
Desmoteuthis is a synonym of
Taonius. But he made the mistake of using Pfeffer's
Megalocranchia for
Desmoteuthis hyperborea; and inexplicably established a new genus
Verrilliteuthis for
Desmoteuthis tenera (which had previously already been recognized as a synonym of
Desmoteuthis hyperborea). Pfeffer followed suit in the same year by resurrecting
Megalocranchia in agreement with Berry, though he still retained
Desmoteuthis hyperborea in
Desmoteuthis. In 1925, the German malacologist
Eduard Degner first described the growth stages of
Desmoteuthis hyperborea during the Danish Oceanographical Expeditions (1908–1910) to the
Mediterranean Sea aboard the Danish research vessel
Thor. He also described a new species
Desmoteuthis thori from a subadult female specimen which displayed grasping end-organs. He failed to connect it to
Teuthowenia megalops for two reasons. The first was that he lacked specimens of
Desmoteuthis hyperborea between the growth stages of in mantle length. The second was that he did not realize that the distinctive end-organs on his specimen for
Desmoteuthis thori was actually a characteristic of
Teuthowenia megalops found only in maturing and adult females. In 1956 when the Danish
marine biologist Bent J. Muus discovered that Prosch's
Cranchia (
Owenia)
megalops and Steenstrup's
Leachia hyperborea belong to the same species. The former being the
paralarval stage of the latter. He synonymized the two under the name
Desmoteuthis megalops, unfortunately retaining Verrill's genus despite it being in synonymy with
Taonius. Like Chun, he also made the mistake of including several other unrelated specimens in the species, including
Anne L. Massy's
Helicocranchia pfefferi, and Chun's
Desmoteuthis pellucida and
Teuthowenia antarctica (now known to be
Galiteuthis glacialis); thus coming to the mistaken conclusion that
Teuthowenia megalops inhabits both the
northern and
Southern Hemispheres. In 1960, the American
teuthologist Gilbert L. Voss disagreed with Muus' choice of
Desmoteuthis, but also mistakenly followed Berry and thus used the genus
Megalocranchia instead. He also recognized
Desmoteuthis tenera and
Leachia hyperborea as synonyms under
Taonius megalops. Clarke's new combination was the primary name used by subsequent authors until 1985 when the American malacologist
Nancy A. Voss finally clarified the convoluted taxonomic history of the family Cranchiidae, retaining Chun's
Teuthowenia. The valid combination for the species is currently
Teuthowenia megalops. ==In popular culture==