Promachoteuthis sloani is a species of squid from the northern Atlantic Ocean. It was known from only three dead specimens until 2024 when a live specimen was observed and photographed in the Nazca Ridge. Very little is understood of its biology. P. sloani is characterised by several morphological features: nuchal fusion is absent between the head and mantle, the arms generally bear 3–4 series of suckers, and papillae are present on the tentacles.Young, R.E., M. Vecchione & U. Piatkowski 2006. Promachoteuthis sloani, a new species of the squid family Promachoteuthidae (Mollusca: Cephalopoda). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 119(2): 287–292.
The holotype is an immature female of 58 mm mantle length (ML) in near-perfect condition. It was caught by R/V G.O. SARS in 2004 at . The paratype, an immature female, is larger at 102 mm ML. It was caught by R/V Walther Herwig in 1973 at . Both were trawled in nets that fished to depths greater than 2,650 m.
References
Toll, R.B. 1982. The comparative morphology of the gladius in the Order Teuthoidea (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) in relation to systematics and phylogeny. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Miami, 390 pp. Voss, N.A. 1992. Family Promachoteuthidae. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 513: 183–185. Toll, R.B. 1998. The gladius in teuthoid systematics. Smithson. Contributions Zool. 586: 55–68.
External links Tree of Life web project: Promachoteuthis sloani Promachoteuthis sloani: Description Continued