Kondakovia longimana is a large species of hooked squid. It attains a mantle length of at least 85 cm and probably over 1.15 m.1 The largest complete specimen of this species, measuring 2.3 m in total length, was found in Antarctica in 2000.2
K. longimana is characterised by the presence of 33 hooks and marginal suckers throughout the tentacular club during subadult years. The gladius of this species is not visible beneath the skin in the dorsal midline. K. longimana possesses three occipital folds.3
The type material of this species, consisting of three specimens caught at the surface and a depth of 50 m, was collected just north of the South Orkney Islands5 and is deposited at the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University.6
^ Kubodera, T., U. Piatkowski, T. Okutani & M.R. Clarke 1998. Taxonomy and Zoogeography of the Family Onychoteuthidae (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 586: 277–291.
^ Filippova, Y.A. 1972. New Data on the Squids (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida) from the Scotia Sea. Malacologia11(2): 391–406.
Jarre, A., M.R. Clarke & D. Pauly 1991. Re-examination of growth estimates in oceanic squids: the case of Kondakovia longimana (Onychoteuthidae). ICES Journal of Marine Science48: 195–200.
Lu, C.C. & R. Williams. 1994. Kondakovia longimana Filippova, 1972 (Cephalopoda: Onychoteuthidae) from the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean. Antarctic Science6(2): 231–234.