Occurrence of Tremoctopus violaceus delle Chiaje, 1830 (Cephalopoda-Tremoctopodidae) in the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean).

The occurrence of blanket octopus Tremoctopus violaceus Delle Chiaje, 1830 is reported for the first time in the Strait of Sicily. The specimen was collected by trawling on January 2003, about 50 nm southward Lampedusa Island on 265 m depth bottoms. The individuai was a maturing female of 133 mm dorsal mantle length and 342 g total weight. Ovary appeared whitish, weighed 4.30 g, with up to six clusters of oocytes whose size ranged between 0.1 and 2.4 mm.