Luminous flying squid

Eucleoteuthis luminosa

Cephalopods
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth25–1,361 m
Water temperature15–27 °C
Best monthsJanuary and May
How commonRare

About this species

Eucleoteuthis is a monotypic genus of squid from the family Ommastrephidae; the only species is Eucleoteuthis luminosa, the striped flying squid or luminous flying squid.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Striped flying squid”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 7 records
February: 2 records
March: 2 records
April: 1 records
May: 7 records
June: 0 records
July: 4 records
August: 1 records
September: 2 records
October: 3 records
November: 4 records
December: 3 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 25–1,361 m · Deepest record: 1,361 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 2 records
110+ m: 16 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 15–27 °C

14–16 °C: 3 records
16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 13 records
20–22 °C: 24 records
22–24 °C: 17 records
24–26 °C: 5 records
26–28 °C: 2 records

Names and classification

English: Luminous flying squid, Striped squid, luminous flying squid, striped squid

Names in 5 more languages

German: Leuchtender Flugkalmar, Leuchtkalmar
Spanish: Pota luminosa
French: Encornet lumineux
Japanese: スジイカ
Simplified Chinese: Fā-Guāng-Róu-Yú, 發光柔魚, 發光魷魚

Other scientific names: Symplectoteuthis luminosa

Similar species

Purpleback flying squid
Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis
Glass squid
Hyaloteuthis pelagica
Hawaiian flying squid
Nototodarus hawaiiensis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
65 open-data records from 1955 to 2003.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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