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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
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Key to decapodiform Cephalopod families

Arms

  • Arms I-III: Maximum number of armature series (for an explanation, check this page at the Tree of Life)
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5 or more

  • Arms I-III: Hooks (for an explanation, check this page at the Tree of Life)
         Absent Present

  • Arms IV: Size (for an explanation, check this page at the Tree of Life)
    • Much smaller than other arms (coded from here on as 'smaller')
    • Somewhat similar to other arms (coded from here on as 'similar')
    • Much larger than other arms (coded from here on as 'larger')

Buccal crown

Eyes

Fins

Funnel

  • Locking-apparatus (for an explanation, check this page at the Tree of Life)
    • Straight
    • Inverted-T shaped
    • Lazy-T shaped
    • Oval
    • Oval with tragus and/or antitragus (from here on referred to as 'Oval-bumpey')
    • Triangular
    • Fused
    • Boomerang
    • Keyhole

  • Lateral funnel adductor muscle (for an explanation, check this page at the Tree of Life)
         Absent Present

Head

Mantle

Photophores

(for an explanation of the following photophore locations, check this page at the Tree of Life)

  • Many on mantle, head: Absent Present
  • On viscera: Absent Present
  • On/in tentacles: Absent Present
  • On eyeballs: Absent Present
  • On funnel: Absent Present

Tail

Tentacles


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