Pickfordiateuthis pulchella [Cephalopoda: Myopsida]; range extension to Bonaire (N.A.)

On August 3, 1982 a small squid was collected opposite “Trans World Radio” at Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles). It was kept in a tank for several hours before it died. The species was identified as Pickfordiateuthis pulchella Voss, 1953, hitherto only known from the Florida Keys, U.S.A. According to Voss (1953) it was probably confined to the geographical area represented by the Florida Keys. ABBOTT (1974) mentioned a distribution from southeast Florida to Panama without refering to literature other than Voss (1953). The specimen from Bonaire, a male, differs from the figure of the holotype (a female) mainly in having proportionally shorter tentacles and the posterior end less bluntly tapered. It agrees well with the male paratype, figured by Voss (1953: fig. 3). The measurements of the specimen are: mantle length 16.0 mm, width 6.9 mm and length of head 7.1 mm. The pigmentation of the dorsal side of the head consists of chromatophores, which are larger and darker than those on the ventral side. The pigmentation on the dorsal side of the mantle is less prominent and consists of more diffuse and smaller spots. The ventral side of the mantle is hardly pigmentated with very small dots.