Mass stranding of Argonauta nodosa Lightfoot, 1786 (Cephalopoda, Argonautidae) along the Uruguayan coast (southwestern Atlantic)

Abstract

A mass stranding of A. nodosa was registered along more than 250 km of the Uruguayan coast between January and April 2004. Such unusual event was associated with singular oceanographic and meteorological conditions that advected oceanic warm waters toward the shore, reaching inside the Rio de la Plata estuary. This is the first record of a mass stranding of argonautid cephalopods in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.