Ichii T, Mahapatra K, Sakai M, Okada Y

Life history of the neon flying squid: effect of the oceanographic regime in the North Pacific Ocean

The North Pacific population of the neon flying squid Ommastrephes bartramii consists of an autumn and a winter–spring spawning cohort. Both cohorts use the food-rich transition zone chlorophyll front (TZCF) in different phases of their life cycles. The autumn cohort grows faster than the winter–spring cohort during the first half of its life cycle, whereas the winter–spring cohort grows faster during the second half. This growth pattern may be responsible for differing migration patterns: sex segregated migration for the autumn cohort, whereas sex identical migration for the winter–spring cohort. These biological and ecological differences between the two cohorts suggest considerable flexibility of the species' life history in response to the oceanographic environment.

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