A New Record of the Squid Loligo forbesii Steenstrup, 1856 (Cephalopoda, Myopsida, Loliginidae) from the Coastal Waters of Iraq

Abstract

The present study included the collection of 50 squids using trawls net from two sites in the coastal waters of Iraq, northwest Arabian Gulf. The first site located in Khor Abdullah and the second site located in Khor Al-Umaiya. The samples are part of the marine biology materials of the Basrah Pearling cruse carried by the Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, during the period from June 20th to July 4th 2012.Based on morphometric characters, and the recent taxonomic keys, it was verified that the squid species is Loligo forbesii Steenstrup, 1856 (Cephalopoda, Myopsida, Loliginidae). The species is a new record of the Iraqi marine waters and the northwest Arabian Gulf in general.