Introduction

Ommastrephes bartramii, commonly known as akaika, red squid, red ocean squid, red flying squid, flying squid, neon flying squid and Bartram's squid (among many other names), is the most broadly distributed species in the family Ommastrephidae with a circumglobal subtropical to temperate distribution (Murata, 1990).

In the North Pacific, O. bartramii is especially abundant and commercial catches have reached over 300,000 mt/year. During summer and fall in the North Pacific, O. bartramii is fished primarily between 36° and 46°N latitude, and in winter most squid are thought to migrate south to the subtropics between about 25° and 35°N latitude where spawning occurs (Yatsu, et al., 1998; Ichii, et al., in press).

Brief diagnosis:

An ommastrephin with ...

• silver band on ventral midline of mantle.
  
• 4-7 toothed suckers on club proximal to most proximal carpal sucker.