FAMILY OMMASTREPHIDAE STEENSTRUP, 1857 B

(25 SPECIES IN 11 GENERA)

Diagnosis: Small to large adult-sized muscular Cranchioidea with funnel–mantle locking apparatus modified into an inverted ‘T’ shape; buccal connectives attached to the dorsal borders of ventral arms; fins short and wide; ‘rhynchoteuthion’ paralarvae, with tentacles fused as a proboscis and with underdeveloped nervous, digestive and respiratory systems and arm crown at hatching relative to other cephalopod hatchlings; spherical, gelatinous egg masses.