Comparative taxonomical studies on the Egyptian Mediterranean octopuses (Octopoda: Cephalopoda)

Octopuses have gained considerable worldwide commercial importance. Hence, this study was conducted to differentiate between the Octopoda species in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters. The study extended from January 2019 to December of the same year. Octopus specimens were seasonally obtained from the fishing trawlers operating in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters from Sidi Abd El-Rahman, west of Alexandria to Rosetta in the east. The different organs were illustrated using a zoom stereoscopic WildM8 microscope provided with a special camera Lucida drawing tube and photographed by a Canon G7Xdigital camera. Four Egyptian Mediterranean octopus species were detected, among which Eledone moschata, Octopus vulgaris, Callistoctopus macropus, and Macrotritopus defilippii were identified. Whereas three of them: Octopus vulgaris, Callistoctopus macropus, and Macrotritopus defilippi are classified as cosmopolitan species in distribution. Considerably, the species Eledone moschata are widely distributed in the Mediterranean Sea.