Argonaut (animal)

Genus of cephalopods

This article is about the cephalopod. For other uses, see Argonaut (disambiguation).

Argonauts

Temporal range: Miocene – Recent

PreꞒ

Female Argonauta argo with its eggs bulging out of its damaged shell
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Mollusca
Class:  | Cephalopoda
Order:  | Octopoda
Family:  | Argonautidae
Genus:  | Argonauta
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Argonauta argo

Linnaeus, 1758

Species

* Argonauta argo
* Argonauta boettgeri*
* Argonauta cornutus*
* Argonauta hians
* Argonauta nodosus
* Argonauta nouryi
* Argonauta pacificus*
* †Argonauta absyrtus
* †Argonauta biarmatus
* †Argonauta itoigawai
* †Argonauta joanneus
* †Argonauta oweri
* †Argonauta sismondai
* †Argonauta tokunagai

*Species status questionable.

Synonyms

* Argonautarius Dumeril, 1806
* Todarus nom. nud. Rafinesque, 1815
* Todarus Rafinesque, 1840
* Trichocephalus Chiaje, 1827 in 1823-1831

The argonauts (genus Argonauta, the only extant genus in the family Argonautidae) are a group of pelagic octopuses. They are also called paper nautili, referring to the paper-thin eggcase that females secrete; however, as octopuses, they are only distant relatives of true nautili. Their structure lacks the gas-filled chambers present in chambered nautilus shells and is not a true cephalopod shell, but rather an evolutionary innovation unique to the genus.[1] It is used as a brood chamber, and to trap surface air to maintain buoyancy. It was once speculated that argonauts did not manufacture their eggcases but utilized shells abandoned by other organisms, in the manner of hermit crabs. Experiments by pioneering marine biologist Jeanne Villepreux-Power in the early 19th century disproved this hypothesis, as Villepreux-Power successfully reared argonaut young and observed their shells' development.[2]

Argonauts are found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. They live in the open ocean, i.e. they are pelagic. Like most octopuses, they have a rounded body, eight limbs (arms) and no fins. However, unlike most octopuses, argonauts live close to the surface rather than on the seabed. Argonauta species are characterised by very large eyes and small webs between the arms. The funnel–mantle locking apparatus is a major diagnostic feature of this taxon. It consists of knob-like cartilages in the mantle and corresponding depressions in the funnel. Unlike the closely allied genera Ocythoe and Tremoctopus, Argonauta species lack water pores.

## Names

[edit]

Of its names, "argonaut" means "sailor of the Argo".[3] "Paper nautilus" is derived from the Greek ναυτίλος (nautílos), which literally means "sailor", since paper nautili were thought to use two of their arms as sails.[4] This is not the case, as argonauts swim by expelling water through their funnels.[5] The chambered nautilus was later named after the argonaut, but belongs to a different cephalopod order, Nautilida.

## Description

[edit]

### Sexual dimorphism and reproduction

[edit]

Argonauts exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism in size and lifespan. Females grow up to 10 cm and make shells up to 30 cm, while males rarely surpass 2 cm. The males mate only once in their short lifetime, whereas the females are iteroparous, capable of having offspring many times over the course of their lives. In addition, the females have been known since ancient times, while the males were described only in the late 19th century.

The males lack the dorsal tentacles used by the females to create their eggcases. The males use a modified arm, the hectocotylus, to transfer sperm to the female. For fertilization, the arm is inserted into the female's pallial cavity and then becomes detached from the male. The hectocotylus when found in females was originally described as a parasitic worm.[6]

* Mature female A. nodosa

* Juvenile female A. hians

* Immature male A. hians

### Eggcase

[edit]

Female argonauts produce a laterally compressed calcareous eggcase in which they reside. This "shell" has a double keel fringed by two rows of alternating tubercles. The sides are ribbed with the centre either flat or having winged protrusions. The eggcase curiously resembles the shells of extinct ammonites. It is secreted by the tips of the female's two greatly expanded dorsal tentacles (third left arms) before egg laying. After she deposits her eggs in the floating eggcase, the female takes shelter in it, often retaining the male's detached hectocotylus. She is usually found with her head and tentacles protruding from the opening, but she retreats deeper inside if disturbed. These ornate curved white eggcases are occasionally found floating on the sea, sometimes with the female argonaut clinging to it. It is not made of aragonite as most other shells are, but of calcite, with a three-layered structure[7] and a higher proportion of magnesium carbonate (7%) than other cephalopod shells.[8]

The eggcase contains a bubble of air that the animal captures at the surface of the water and uses for buoyancy, similarly to other shelled cephalopods, although it does not have a chambered phragmocone.[7] Once thought to contribute to occasional mass strandings on beaches, the air bubble is under sophisticated control, evident from the behaviour of animals from which air has been removed under experimental diving conditions.[9][10][11] This system to attain neutral buoyancy is effective only at the relatively shallow depths of the upper 10 meters of the water column. Young females with mantle lengths less than 9 millimeters are shell-less like the males, with both having been found in waters between 50–200 meters.[9]

Most other octopuses lay eggs in caves; Neale Monks and C. Phil Palmer speculate that, before ammonites died out during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the argonauts may have evolved to use discarded ammonite shells for their egg laying, eventually becoming able to mend the shells and perhaps make their own shells.[12] However, this is uncertain and it is unknown whether this is the result of convergent evolution.

Argonauta argo is the largest species in the genus and also produces the largest eggcase, which may reach a length of 300 mm.[13][14] The smallest species is Argonauta boettgeri, with a maximum recorded size of 67 mm.[13][15]

* Female A. nodosa with its eggcase

* The eggcase of A. argo

* The eggcase of A. nodosa

* The eggcase of A. hians

### Beak

[edit]

Lower (left) and upper beaks of female Argonauta argo (63 mm ML) in lateral view
3D red cyan glasses are recommended to view this image correctly.

Further information: Cephalopod beak

The beaks of Argonauta species are distinctive, being characterised by a very small rostrum and a fold that runs to the lower edge or near the free corner. The rostrum is "pinched in" at the sides, making it much narrower than in other octopuses, with the exception of the closely allied monotypic genera Ocythoe and Vitreledonella. The jaw angle is curved and indistinct. Beaks have a sharp shoulder, which may or may not have posterior and anterior parts at different slopes. The hood lacks a notch and is very broad, flat, and low. The hood to crest ratio (f/g) is approximately 2.0–2.4 . The lateral wall of the beak has no notch near the wide crest. Argonaut beaks are most similar to those of Ocythoe tuberculata and Vitreledonella richardi, but differ in "leaning back" to a greater degree than the former and having a more curved jaw angle than the latter.[15]

## Feeding and defense

[edit]

Feeding mostly occurs during the day. Argonauts use tentacles to grab prey and drag it toward the mouth. It then bites the prey to inject it with venom from the salivary gland. They feed on small crustaceans, molluscs, jellyfish and salps. If the prey is shelled, the argonaut uses its radula to drill into the organism, then inject the toxin.

Argonauts are capable of altering their color. They can blend in with their surroundings to avoid predators. They also produce ink, which is ejected when the animal is being attacked. This ink paralyzes the olfaction of the attacker, providing time for the argonaut to escape. The female is also able to pull back the web covering of her shell, making a silvery flash, which may deter a predator from attacking.

Argonauts are preyed upon by tunas, billfishes, and dolphins. Shells and remains of argonauts have been recorded from the stomachs of Alepisaurus ferox and Coryphaena hippurus.[15]

Male argonauts have been observed residing inside aggregate salps (Pegea socia), although little is known about this relationship.[16]

## Classification

[edit]

Fossilised eggcase of the extinct Miocene species Argonauta joanneus (lateral and keel views) | Eggcases of six extant Argonauta species

|

The genus Argonauta contains up to seven extant species. Several extinct species are also known.

Four extant species are widely considered valid:[17]

* Argonauta argo Linnaeus, 1758
* Argonauta hians Lightfoot, 1786
* Argonauta nodosus Lightfoot, 1786
* Argonauta nouryi Lorois, 1852

Several additional taxa are either treated as valid species or regarded as nomina dubia:

* Argonauta boettgeri Maltzan, 1881
* Argonauta cornutus Conrad, 1854
* Argonauta pacificus Dall, 1871

A number of extinct species have also been described:

* †Argonauta absyrtus Martill & Barker, 2006
* †Argonauta biarmata Ponzi, 1876[18]
* †Argonauta itoigawai Tomida, 1983
* †Argonauta joanneus Hilber, 1915
* †Argonauta oweri Fleming, 1945
* †Argonauta sismondai Bellardi, 1872
* †Argonauta tokunagai Yokoyama, 1913

The extinct species Obinautilus awaensis was originally assigned to Argonauta, but has since been transferred to the genus Obinautilus.[19]

### Dubious or uncertain taxa

[edit]

The following taxa associated with the family Argonautidae are of uncertain taxonomic status:[20]

Binomial name and author citation | Current systematic status | Type locality | Type repository

|
|
|

Argonauta arctica Fabricius, 1780 | Undetermined | Unresolved; ?Tullukaurfak, Greenland | Unresolved
Argonauta bibula Röding, 1798 | Undetermined | Unresolved | Unresolved
Argonauta compressa Blainville, 1826 | Undetermined | Mer de Indes | Unresolved; [other Blainville types at MNHN] [not reported by Lu et al. (1995)]
Argonauta conradi Parkinson, 1856 | Species of uncertain status [fide Robson (1932:200)] | "New Nantucket, Pacific Ocean" | Unresolved
Argonauta cornu Gmelin, 1791 | Undetermined | Unresolved | Unresolved; LS?
Argonauta cymbium Linné, 1758 | Non-cephalopod; foraminiferous shell [fide Von Martens (1867:103) |  |
Argonauta fragilis Parkinson, 1856 | Species of uncertain status [fide Robson (1932:200)] | Not designated | Unresolved
Argonauta geniculata Gould, 1852 | Species of uncertain status [fide Robson (1932:200)] | Near Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Type not extant [fide Johnson (1964:32)]
Argonauta maxima Dall, 1871 | Nomen nudum |  |
Argonauta navicula Lightfoot, 1786 | Species dubium [fide Rehder (1967:11)] | Not designated | Unresolved
Argonauta rotunda Perry, 1811 | Non-cephalopod; Carcinaria sp. [fide Robson (1932:201)] |  |
Argonauta rufa Owen, 1836 | Incertae sedis [fide Robson (1932:181)] | "Indian seas" ["South Pacific ocean" fide Owen (1842:114)] | Unresolved; Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons? Holotype
Argonauta sulcata Lamarck, 1801 | Nomen nudum |  |
Argonauta tuberculata f. aurita Von Martens, 1867 | Undetermined | Unresolved | ZMB
Argonauta tuberculata f. mutica Von Martens, 1867 | Undetermined | Coast of Brazil | ZMB Holotype
Argonauta tuberculata f. obtusangula Von Martens, 1867 | Undetermined | Not designated | ZMB Syntypes
Argonauta vitreus Gmelin, 1791 | Undetermined | Not designated | Unresolved; LS?
Octopus (Ocythoe) raricyathus Blainville, 1826 | Undetermined [Argonauta?] | Not designated | MNHN Holotype; specimen not extant [fide Lu et al. (1995:323)]
Ocythoe punctata Say, 1819 | Argonauta sp. [fide Robson (1929d:215)] | Atlantic Ocean near the North American coast (from stomach of dolphin) | Unresolved; ANSP? Holotype [not traced by Spamer and Bogan (1992)]
Tremoctopus hirondellei Joubin, 1895 | Argonauta or Ocythoe [fide Thomas (1977:386)] | 44°28′56″N 46°48′15″W﻿ / ﻿44.48222°N 46.80417°W﻿ / 44.48222; -46.80417 (Atlantic Ocean) | MOM Holotype [station 151] [fide Belloc (1950:3)]

## In design

[edit]

Repeating argonaut design on a Minoan ceramic

Argonauts surrounding the Nautilus, in Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

The argonaut was the inspiration for a number of classical and modern art and decorative forms including use on pottery and architectural elements. Some early examples are found in Bronze Age Minoan art from Crete.[21] A variation known as the double argonaut design was also found in Minoan jewelry.[22] This design was also transposed and adapted in both gold and glass in contemporary Mycenaean contexts, as seen both at Mycenae and the Tholos at Volo.[23]

## In literature and etymology

[edit]

* Argonauts are featured in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, noted for their ability to use their tentacles as sails. Although it is false natural history, this was a long-standing and widespread myth, apparently originating with Aristotle.
* A female argonaut is also described in Marianne Moore's poem "The Paper Nautilus".
* "Argonauta" is the name of a chapter in Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea.
* Paper nautiluses were caught in the novel The Swiss Family Robinson.[24]
* Argonauts gave their name to an Arabidopsis thaliana mutation and by extension to Argonaute proteins.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Naef, A. (1923). "Die Cephalopoden, Systematik" [Cephalapods' systematics]. Fauna e Flora de Golfo Napoli (in German). 35 (1): 1–863.
2. ^ Scales, Helen (2015). Spirals in Time: The secret life and curious afterlife of seashells. Bloomsbury.
3. ^ "Argonaut". Online Etymology Dictionary. Word Origin and History. 2010. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
4. ^ "Origin of nautilus". Dictionary.com (Unabridged ed.). 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
5. ^ Figuier, Louis (1869). The Ocean World: Being a descriptive history of the sea and its living inhabitants. London, UK: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. pp. 329 – via Internet Archive.
6. ^ Delle Chiaje, S. (1825). Memorie sulla storia e notomia degli animali. Senza Vertebre del Regno di Napoli (in Italian). Vol. I.
7. ^ a b Nixon, M.; Young, J.Z. (2003). The Brains and Lives of Cephalopods. Oxford University Press.
8. ^ Saul, L.; Stadum, C. (2005). "Fossil argonauts (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Octopodida) from late Miocene siltstones of the Los Angeles basin, California". Journal of Paleontology. 79 (3): 520–531\. Bibcode:2005JPal...79..520S. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079<0520:FAMCOF>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 4095022. S2CID 131373540.
9. ^ a b Finn, Julian K.; Norman, Mark D. (2010). "The argonaut shell: Gas-mediated buoyancy control in a pelagic octopus". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 277 (1696): 2967–2971\. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0155. PMC 2982015. PMID 20484241.
10. ^ Argonaut buoyancy (video). Melbourne, Victoria, AU: Museums Victoria. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 19 May 2010 – via museumvictoria.com.au.
11. ^ Pidcock, R. (19 May 2010). "Ancient octopus mystery resolved". BBC News – via news.bbc.co.uk.
12. ^ Monks, N.; Palmer, C.P. (2002). Ammonites. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
13. ^ a b Pisor, D.L. (2005). Registry of World Record Size Shells (4th ed.). Snail's Pace Productions and ConchBooks. p. 12.
14. ^ Nesis, K.N. (1982). Abridged key to the cephalopod mollusks of the world's ocean (in Russian). Moscow, RU: (1982) Light and Food Industry Publishing House.

Translated and republished as:
Nesis, K.N. (1987) [1982]. Levitov, B.S. (ed.). Cephalopods of the World. Translated by Burgess, L.A. Neptune City, NJ: T.F.H. Publications.
15. ^ a b c Clarke, M.R. (1986). A Handbook for the Identification of Cephalopod Beaks. Oxford University Press.
16. ^ Banas, P.T.; Smith, D.E. & Biggs, D.C. (1982). "An association between a pelagic octopod, Argonauta sp. (Linnaeus 1758), and aggregate salps". Fishery Bulletin. 80: 648–650.(Linnaeus+1758),+and+aggregate+salps&rft.volume=80&rft.pages=648-650&rft.date=1982&rft.aulast=Banas&rft.aufirst=P.T.&rft.au=Smith,+D.E.&rft.au=Biggs,+D.C.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Argonaut+(animal)" class="Z3988">
17. ^ Gofas, Serge (2015). "Argonauta (Linnaeus, 1758)". World Register of Marine Species. Ostend, BE: Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 5 February 2018 – via marinespecies.org.(Linnaeus,+1758)&rft.date=2015&rft.aulast=Gofas&rft.aufirst=Serge&rft_id=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id;=137676&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Argonaut+(animal)" class="Z3988">
18. ^ Ponzi, G. (1876). Cefalopodi. [p. 932 + pl. III 1a–b] In: I fossili del Monte Vaticano. Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, series 2, 3(2): 925–959 + 3 pls. (in Italian)
19. ^ Martill, D.M.; Barker, M.J. (2006). "A paper nautilus (Octopoda, Argonauta) from the Miocene Pakhna formation of Cyprus". Palaeontology. 49 (5): 1035–1041\. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00578.x.
20. ^ Sweeney, M.J. "Taxa associated with the family Argonautidae (Tryon, 1879)". Tree of Life Web Project – via tolweb.org.(Tryon,+1879)&rft.aulast=Sweeney&rft.aufirst=M.J.&rft_id=http://www.tolweb.org/accessory/Argonautidae_Taxa?acc_id=2464&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Argonaut+(animal)" class="Z3988">
21. ^ Konstantinidi, Eleni M. (2001). Jewellery Revealed in the Burial Contexts of the Greek Bronze Age. Hadrian Books. ISBN 1-84171-165-9.
22. ^ Hogan, C.Michael (2007). "Knossos fieldnotes". The Modern Antiquarian.
23. ^ Higgins, Reynold; Higgins, Reynold Alleyne (January 1980). Greek and Roman Jewellery. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03601-7 – via Google.
24. ^ Wyss, Johann David; Stickney, Jenny H. (1898). The Swiss Family Robinson. Ginn & Co.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argonauta.

* "Argonauta". Tree of Life Web Project – via tolweb.org.
* Simon, Matt (16 January 2015). "The beautiful octopus whose sex is all about dismemberment". Absurd creature of the week. Wired – via wired.com.

Taxon identifiers

Argonauta|

* Wikidata: Q2050688
* Wikispecies: Argonauta
* ADW: Argonauta
* AFD: Argonauta
* BOLD: 2122
* CoL: 7NPNW
* EoL: 51273
* GBIF: 2289744
* iNaturalist: 246398
* IRMNG: 1198412
* ITIS: 82681
* NCBI: 61686
* NZOR: 24792ea3-5142-4ebb-ab45-5f0171e23987
* Open Tree of Life: 331557
* Paleobiology Database: 15912
* Plazi: 1CC7876D-76A2-649C-3E23-F0F24100ACB2
* WoRMS: 137676
* ZooBank: 6E996466-34E8-4815-BFFF-D0458599609C