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Animal profile

Market Squid

Doryteuthis opalescens

CephalopodaCoastal waters of the eastern Pacific, spawning on sandy bottoms in shallow bays

Field profile

The market squid is a small, short-lived schooling squid that underpins California's largest fishery by volume. Adults live under a year, spawn once in dense aggregations over sandy bottoms, and die soon after.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-01-19

Market Squid

California's biggest fishery vanishes in warm years

Market squid live less than a year, so a single warm ocean season can remove nearly the whole stock. During strong El Nino events, landings have collapsed from over a hundred thousand tonnes to almost nothing.

Read with evidence →

Market Squid | Daily Animal Facts