PREFACE

It is my pleasure to introduce this special volume ofAdvances inMarine Biology

devoted to current topics in cephalopod research to a wider readership.

Cephalopods—squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, and nautiluses—are highly

evolved marine mollusks with diverse life histories and a wide range of

habitat preferences. These rapidly growing animals have relatively short life

cycles and die after a single reproduction period. Combined with a high

production-to-biomass ratio, these opportunistic features earn them a place

as important components in the trophic structure of marine ecosystems and

as the objects of valuable capture fisheries.

Cephalopods also are noticeably sensitive to environmental variations.

This has become of special concern in a time of changing ocean climate

and, by itself, warrants research that adds to our knowledge of these attrac-

tive invertebrates with impressively large brains, strikingly familiar eyes, and

intriguingly complex behaviours.

The idea for this publication was born while undertaking preparations

for the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC) Symposium

held in Florianopolis, Brazil in October–November 2012. Every 3 years,

CIAC Symposia gather the world’s cephalopod researchers in both formal

and informal settings designed to encourage the open exchange of ideas

and cross-discipline collaboration.

A tradition of CIAC Symposia is our pre-conference workshops. These

are led by recognized experts in their field and treat topics of particular inter-

est to attendees. For CIAC 2012, 15 topics initially were proposed and 4 of

these, receiving together more than 50% of the votes from the cephalopod

scientific community, were selected for presentation.

While preparing the 2012 Symposium, for which I served as Chair, I was

struck by the idea that our organization would benefit from introducing the

outputs of the workshops to a broader audience. I felt that this best would be

achieved by publishing our workshop proceedings in a high-quality volume.

This idea grew and eventually became one of the goals of my chairmanship.

I thus am very happy that this has been realized with the publication of the

present volume that contains the four review papers from the CIAC 2012

workshops.

Each paper reflects the perspective of recognized leaders in their field,

together with the contributions of colleagues and students who participated

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actively in the workshops. In each case, the result is an authoritative review

that combines the expertise of multiple ‘contributing authors’ representing

many research groups distributed over five continents.

The first topic is cephalopod culture. Owing to their very high growth

rates, short life cycles, and important markets, cephalopods are one of the

more attractive candidates for marine aquaculture. This paper summarizes

state-of-the-art culture methodologies for four species chosen as biological

models. It addresses problems associated with transportation, water quality,

nutritional requirements, and digestive physiology. Opportunities for, and

present limitations to, commercialization are analyzed and research priorities

are outlined.

The next review deals with fisheries management, particularly its effect

on cephalopod population dynamics. This paper describes management

approaches to cephalopod fisheries and underlines the essential role of fore-

casting in sustaining profitable harvest of these short-lived species. The need

to enhance our understanding of the relationship between the environment

and both population dynamics and trophic dynamics at all phases of the life

cycle is stressed.

The third contribution summarizes current knowledge of deep-sea

cephalopods, for which information naturally is sparse, as these animals

remain exceedingly difficult to collect and observe in vivo. The authors

provide a valuable survey of what thus far is known about their diversity,

biogeography, systematics, trophic ecology, and aspects of life cycles. Their

reproductive and feeding strategies, in particular, are quite different from

those of their much more familiar near-surface ‘cousins’. Recommendations

are made for filling in the gaps in our knowledge of these mysterious and

charismatic cephalopods.

The last paper reviews the morphological, physiological, ecological, and

behavioural changes that occur during each of four ‘transitions’ identified in

cephalopod life history: fertilization to release of eggs; egg hatching to para-

larvae; paralarvae to sub-adults; and sub-adults to adults. Of broad applica-

tion to several areas of cephalopod research, it analyzes the implications of

each ‘transition’ and its consequences, particularly at the population level.

These four contributions are testament to the impressive progress that

has been made in cephalopod science over the last few decades. Overall,

it is my earnest hope that these reviews give readers a comprehensive under-

standing of the present state of cephalopod biology, ecology, cultivation, and

fisheries. At the same time—and of immediate importance—they provide

xxiv Preface

a detailed outline of contemporary challenges in cephalopod science that

usefully frame areas of future research.

Finally, on a personal note, it has been a very rewarding journey from the

pleasant weekend of discussions during the workshops to completion of this

volume. I am very grateful to the coordination, commitment, and under-

standing of the lead authors during its preparation, and also to all

co-authors for their valuable participation and contributions. I extend my

special thanks to Paul G. K. Rodhouse for his encouragement throughout

this work and for his always thoughtful and positive comments. Many thanks

also are owed to Jose Eduardo A. R. Marian for his enthusiastic support,

friendship, and hard work during the organization of the symposium.

It gives me great pleasure to thank the referees (anonymous or not) for

their valuable and constructive comments: Sigurd von Boletzky, Pedro

Domingues, Angel Guerra, Vladimir Laptikhovsky, Julio Portela, Warwick

Sauer, and Elizabeth Shea. I save my deepest gratitude for my husband,

Jose Guilherme Bersano Filho, our children, Lyanna and Adriano, and

my parents, Fernando and Thereza (in memorian), for their substantial

contribution of unwavering love and support.

ERICA A.G. VIDAL

xxvPreface