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Chapter 1
Cephalopod Biology
Sigurd von Boletzky and Roger Villanueva
J. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Cephalopod Culture, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8648-5_1,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract Cephalopod biology is briefly surveyed in the context of cephalopod
culture, considering its promises and limits. The motivations for undertaking culture
work vary greatly, both in a basic and applied science perspective. Under most
circumstances, the outcome of an experimental culture remains uncertain until a
second generation is achieved. Culture conditions of benthic, shallow-water species
are more easily reached in captivity than the living conditions of offshore, pelagic
and deep-sea cephalopods. In general terms, difficulties in launching a culture from
eggs are inversely proportional to the size of the hatchlings involved. Although
cephalopod hatchlings are always actively foraging predators equipped with the
organ systems typical of the adults, a combination of very small size and a pelagic
lifestyle represents a challenge for their culture, particularly to satisfy their nutritional requirements.
Keywords Cephalopods · Biology · Culture · Development · Reproduction
1.1 Introduction
Half a century after the first successful culture attempts (Choe and Oshima 1963;
Itami et al. 1963), a brief overview of cephalopod biology—even when limited to
the context of aquaculture—will necessarily be somewhat incomplete. For a recent
overview of cephalopod biology, we therefore recommend reading the early chapters
of Boyle and Rodhouse (2005). Cephalopods are exclusively marine molluscs (with
only few species tolerating low salinities); they have separate sexes and direct development (without a truly larval stage); they are carnivores or (more rarely) scavengers;
S. von Boletzky ()
Observatoire Océanologique, CNRS, Laboratoire Arago,
66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
e-mail: sigurd.boletzky@sfr.fr
R. Villanueva
Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37–49,
08003 Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: roger@icm.csic.es
Chapter 1
Cephalopod Biology
Sigurd von Boletzky and Roger Villanueva
J. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Cephalopod Culture, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8648-5_1,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract Cephalopod biology is briefly surveyed in the context of cephalopod
culture, considering its promises and limits. The motivations for undertaking culture
work vary greatly, both in a basic and applied science perspective. Under most
circumstances, the outcome of an experimental culture remains uncertain until a
second generation is achieved. Culture conditions of benthic, shallow-water species
are more easily reached in captivity than the living conditions of offshore, pelagic
and deep-sea cephalopods. In general terms, difficulties in launching a culture from
eggs are inversely proportional to the size of the hatchlings involved. Although
cephalopod hatchlings are always actively foraging predators equipped with the
organ systems typical of the adults, a combination of very small size and a pelagic
lifestyle represents a challenge for their culture, particularly to satisfy their nutritional requirements.
Keywords Cephalopods · Biology · Culture · Development · Reproduction
1.1 Introduction
Half a century after the first successful culture attempts (Choe and Oshima 1963;
Itami et al. 1963), a brief overview of cephalopod biology—even when limited to
the context of aquaculture—will necessarily be somewhat incomplete. For a recent
overview of cephalopod biology, we therefore recommend reading the early chapters
of Boyle and Rodhouse (2005). Cephalopods are exclusively marine molluscs (with
only few species tolerating low salinities); they have separate sexes and direct development (without a truly larval stage); they are carnivores or (more rarely) scavengers;
S. von Boletzky ()
Observatoire Océanologique, CNRS, Laboratoire Arago,
66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
e-mail: sigurd.boletzky@sfr.fr
R. Villanueva
Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37–49,
08003 Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: roger@icm.csic.es