Image of Dosidicus Steenstrup 1857

Description:

The beak appears similar to a parrot's beak. The roots of each beak, however, extend well back into the buccal mass (the white mass of muscle around the beaks here), becoming wider, softer, and thinner as they go. The smaller beak (on the right above) is dorsal. Between the beaks is the radula and the salivary papilla. The esophagus passes back through the heavy, muscular buccal mass to the stomach. Photo by Dave Cowles, July 2009