Antarctic Gonate Squid

Gonatus antarcticus

Cephalopods
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth350–1,991 m
Water temperature-2–18 °C
Best monthsFebruary
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Darren Stevens, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Gonatus antarcticus is a squid in the family Gonatidae. The species is known with certainty only from southern Atlantic waters but it may have a circum-Antarctic distribution. Historically, G. antarcticus was known to scientists only from dead specimens caught by fishermen and remains found in the bellies of larger animals. However, in December 2024, a free-swimming live squid was captured on video at 7,000 feet by a remotely operated vehicle owned by the Schmidt Ocean Institute making a film for National Geographic.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Gonatus antarcticus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 15 records
February: 219 records
March: 13 records
April: 0 records
May: 9 records
June: 5 records
July: 47 records
August: 8 records
September: 3 records
October: 59 records
November: 16 records
December: 3 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 350–1,991 m · Deepest record: 2,613 m

90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 0 records
120–130 m: 0 records
130–140 m: 0 records
140–150 m: 0 records
150–160 m: 0 records
160–170 m: 0 records
170–180 m: 0 records
180–190 m: 0 records
190–200 m: 0 records
200+ m: 71 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -2–18 °C

-2–0 °C: 2 records
0–2 °C: 3 records
2–4 °C: 2 records
4–6 °C: 48 records
6–8 °C: 315 records
8–10 °C: 8 records
10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 10 records
14–16 °C: 13 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 1 records

Names and classification

English: Antarctic Gonate Squid

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: ナンキョクテカギイカ

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).
405 open-data records from 1945 to 2024.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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