Ecology Summary - Argonauta hians

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Ecology of Argonauta hians

Main Ref.	Turgeon, D.D., J.F. Quinn Jr., A.E. Bogan, E.V. Coan, F.G. Hochberg, W.G. Lyons, P.M. Mikkelsen, R.J. Neves, C.F.E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, F.G. Thompson, M. Vecchione and J.D. Willams, 1998
Remarks	Before maturation, female argonauts utilize their glands on their dorsal arms to produce a shell, which it uses as a home. Primarily feeds on jellyfish and is typically found associated with them, most likely as a camouflage. Included in their diet are pelagic mollusks, octopods, crustaceans, comb jellyfishes and fishes. Males are small and possesses a third arm which detaches during mating and carries the spermatophores to the females. They are observed to inhabit salps (Ref. 98471).

Main Ref.

Turgeon, D.D., J.F. Quinn Jr., A.E. Bogan, E.V. Coan, F.G. Hochberg, W.G. Lyons, P.M. Mikkelsen, R.J. Neves, C.F.E. Roper, G. Rosenberg, B. Roth, A. Scheltema, F.G. Thompson, M. Vecchione and J.D. Willams, 1998

Remarks

Before maturation, female argonauts utilize their glands on their dorsal arms to produce a shell, which it uses as a home. Primarily feeds on jellyfish and is typically found associated with them, most likely as a camouflage. Included in their diet are pelagic mollusks, octopods, crustaceans, comb jellyfishes and fishes. Males are small and possesses a third arm which detaches during mating and carries the spermatophores to the females. They are observed to inhabit salps (Ref. 98471).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Argonauta hians may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.	Judkins, H.L.M., M. Vecchione and C.F.E. Roper, 2009
Special habitats	Other habitats: other invertebrates (Refer to associations.);
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Rosa, R. and B.A. Seibel, 2010
Associations	symbiosis;
Associated with	gelatinous zooplankton.
Association remarks	An octopod was observed to be hanging on the aboral surface of a jellyfish near the surface; it was presumed that the octopod was "riding" or "maneuvering" its host as a form of camouflage.
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	IUCN, 2014
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	3.93	0.47			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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Aquatic zones / Water bodies

Habitat

Associations

feeding

Trophic Level(s)