User:Murph12/sandbox

Article selection
Opisthoteuthis calypso

Platypodiella georgei

Stenorhynchus debilis

These are all good choices, but make sure there are enough sources on the species before you start writing. - Josh

Article Evaluation
I chose the Wikipedia entry on biology under the academic disciplines category. As far as I can tell, the information presented seems relevant to the topic, with history, the main foundations, and studies all represented. I am sure it is mostly up to date, however with such a broad topic there could constantly be things added. However, adding too much would be a detriment to the article's purpose of giving an overview of Biology. The article is completely neutral as it would be quite difficult to be biased when it comes to an overview of biology. As for sources, after randomly selecting a few to click on it would seem that they are mostly still active links and the sources seem to be credible. For the talk page, not much is happening in terms of conversation, however there seems to be a list of things that need to be fixed that have been taken care of, which leads me to believe the article is fairly well kept and up to date. This article is part of two WikiProjects (the ones for biology and science).

=Mistaken Identity== Opisthoteuthis calypso is a relatively newly discovered species, as it was originally mistaken for another in the Opisthoteuthis genus. Specimens originally sampled from the Mediterranean Sea were reported as O. agassizii, which have since been re-examined and identified as the O. calypso.

Peer Review
Information presented in your draft sandbox appears to be relevant and good. However, there were no references on your actual draft page to support any of the information listed. I'm sure a lot of it came from the above reference, but we are supposed to have far more than only one citation, so try to find more! Can't wait to see what all you come up with and how you actually layout your article itself. Maybe try and incorporate sections of behavior, geographic location, and other info in a general introductory description to lead off your actual article!

~Antitheto

Opisthoteuthis calypso
Opisthoteuthis calypso is a species of genus Opisthoteuthis, which are known as the cirrate octopuses. Octopuses in this genus are known as the flapjack octopuses and can be found in a variety of oceans across the world.

Anatomy and Morphology
The species of this genus show distinctive characteristics among the class Cephalopoda, including an oval shaped body compressed along the longitudinal axis, a gelatinous consistence and a large interbrachial web. This web is what has given them their common name "flapjack" or "pancake devil fish". This species generally has a mantle length of 5 cm. Other distinctive features include the presence of two small fins on the mantle, an internal U-shaped shell that has a groove along it's outer surface. This particular species has eight, subequal arms (of an uneven length). As adults, they tend to have 47-58 suckers on each of these eight arms. Their cirri (small tassel-like appendages on the surface of the octopus) are on the shorter end, with a length reaching up to 5 mm. This is what differs them from other members of the Opisthoteuthis genus. Due to the delicate consistency of the species, captured specimen are often in poor condition and therefore near impossible to identify other particular distinguishing features.

Distribution and Habitat
This species is typically found in the South Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, although they are quite rare and therefore distribution is not well known. In terms of habitat, the species has been found on muddy bottoms at depths of 365 meters in the South East Atlantic and 2208 meters in the Mediterranean. Recent studies have found 11 specimens around the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean, and others 38 others have been found at depths ranging from 871 to 1420 meters in the Sardinian Channel of the central Western Mediterranean. This species was previously mistaken for O. agassizi, a species in the same genus. Since, previous captured specimen of O. agassizi,that were found in the Mediterranean have been accredited to O. calypso, and is now believed to be the sole Opisthoteuthis species in the area.

Life History
Adult males are larger than females, with a total length of 482 mm and a weight of 5400 grams, while the females have a total length of 342 mm and a weight of 1650 g. Females of the Opisthoteuthis calypso have been shown to have ovarian oocyte size frequency which is akin to species that show continuous egg production and release, alluding to a continuous-spawning reproductive pattern. This contrasts with the semelparity shown in a majority of incirrate octopuses.

Behavior
The prey of Opisthoteuthis calypso includes small organisms with slow swim speeds. The most important prey items for Opisthoteuthis calypso include benthic gammarid, amphipods, and polychaetes of the epibenthic fauna (those which live on or just above the bottom sediments). In samples taken from the Sardinian Channel, Polychaeta and Crustacea made up around 40% and 36% of the total stomach contents respectively. Sand was also found in the stomachs of all samples which alludes to further evidence of their hunting behavior taking place in epibenthic zones. A detailed analysis feeding of relative species O. agassizi at 490 meters have shown a pattern of continuous feeding and is believed to be true for Opisthoteuthis calypso as well. Visually oriented species such as this, who are living at greater depths show a decrease in energy expenditure rates as the depth increases. This decrease in energy usage is attributed to the reduction in locomotion needed with the visually instigated predator-prey relationship in the light-limited habitat they live in.

Threatened Species
This species of Opisthoteuthis is found to be on the vulnerable stage of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as of 2014. This species has been accessed as vulnerable because of impacts by the commercial fishing market as bycatch. Similar congeneric species with a similar biology to Opisthoteuthis calypso has been shown to decline by 30% over three generations due to similar reasoning.