Veined squid

Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-17

The larger, more northerly of the two British squid, and the one most autumn and winter pier catches actually are — taken on the same jig, by the same people, who believe they are catching the other one.

Safety

Injury while handling fish — Can cause injury needing treatment

A squid has a hard parrot-like beak at the centre of the arms, capable of a painful bite, and will fire ink accurately at whatever is in front of it. The barbed crowns of a squid jig are numerous, fine and awkward, and a thrashing squid on a jig puts several of them near a hand.

What reduces it: Hold the mantle rather than the head. Point the animal away from people when lifting it. Use a bucket or bag and unhook the jig with the squid controlled rather than swinging.

Worse when:

Fishing on a crowded pier at night
Swinging a squid up rather than lifting it

Fish welfare — Can cause injury needing treatment

Cephalopods are recognised as sentient in UK law following a formal review of the evidence. A squid left in a bucket suffocates slowly, which is both a welfare failure and a quality one.

What reduces it: Decide before fishing whether the catch is for the table. If it is, kill each animal immediately and properly and chill it at once. If it is not, return it. Do not accumulate live animals in a bucket.

Worse when:

Long sessions
Warm evenings early in the season

British squid fishing has grown from nothing into a genuine autumn and winter shore fishery in fifteen years, and it is built on two species that nobody distinguishes.

THE CATALOGUE HELD THE EUROPEAN SQUID. Loligo vulgaris is the southern one, the one the Mediterranean and Iberian fisheries are named for, and the one most people assume they are catching.

THIS IS THE OTHER ONE, AND IT IS COMMONER IN THE NORTH. Loligo forbesii grows larger, occurs further north, and dominates catches around Scotland, the Irish Sea and much of the North Sea — including a substantial share of what is jigged off British piers, breakwaters and harbour walls on winter evenings.

THE CHARACTER IS THE FIN AND THE ARM SUCKERS. Both species have long fins running most of the mantle length. In the veined squid the fins are proportionally shorter — roughly two-thirds of the mantle rather than closer to two-thirds-and-more — and the decisive difference is in the suckers on the arms of mature males, which in this species are strongly enlarged in the middle of the arm. In practice, size and place do most of the work: a large squid caught off Scotland in November is a veined squid until proved otherwise.

AND IT MATTERS FOR THE SAME REASON THE WRASSE DO. A catalogue that holds one of a pair can state a fact. It cannot state a distinction, and the distinction is what somebody standing on a pier with an animal in a bucket actually wants.

Identification

FishingHQ holds no photograph of this species whose identity and licensing it can vouch for, so it is not showing one. Misidentified fish photographs teach identification wrongly, and a picture with an unchecked caption would be worse than none. The identification points below are what to look at instead.

Scientific name: Loligo forbesii
Family: Loliginidae
Water: Saltwater
Conservation status: Data Deficient
Regions: Britain & Ireland, Western Europe, Northern Europe, North Africa, West Africa

LARGER. Mantle length commonly 20–40 cm and reaching 60 or more in mature males. A European squid at 30 cm mantle is a big one.
FINS ROUGHLY TWO-THIRDS OF THE MANTLE LENGTH, rhomboid, running down the sides towards the tail. Proportionally slightly shorter than the European squid's, which is a difficult character on its own.
MATURE MALES HAVE GREATLY ENLARGED SUCKERS in the middle portion of the arms — conspicuously bigger than those at the base and tip. This is the reliable structural character.
MORE NORTHERLY. Dominant around Scotland, the northern Irish Sea and much of the North Sea; the European squid is proportionally commoner to the south and in the Channel.
EIGHT ARMS AND TWO LONG TENTACLES with clubs at the tips, as in all loliginids. Do not confuse a squid with a cuttlefish, which is broader, flatter and has a solid internal cuttlebone.
TRANSLUCENT AND REDDISH-MOTTLED IN LIFE, with the chromatophores firing in waves. Colour is not an identification character in any cephalopod.

Size

Typical: 20–35 cm mantle length.
Large: Over 45 cm mantle length is a large veined squid.

Exceptional: Around 90 cm mantle length is the widely reported maximum for mature males, which are much larger than females. Fish of that size are not what a pier fishery catches.

Lifecycle and reproduction

Short, fast and terminal, which is the pattern in nearly all loliginid squid. Veined squid live about one year, occasionally a little more, growing extremely rapidly, spawning once, and dying afterwards. That single fact governs everything about the fishery: there is effectively no accumulated stock, abundance in any year depends on that year's recruitment, and a poor year cannot be buffered by older animals because there are none. Eggs are laid in gelatinous finger-like capsules attached to the seabed in inshore water, often in large communal masses, and hatchlings are miniature adults with no larval stage of the kind a fish has.

Spawning is concentrated in winter and spring in British waters, inshore, with egg masses attached to hard substrate, weed and debris in shallow water. Males compete, transfer spermatophores with a modified arm, and both sexes die after spawning. The inshore movement to spawn is exactly what produces the autumn and winter shore fishery: the squid come within reach of a pier because they are moving in to breed, which is worth knowing when deciding how hard to fish for them.

Feeding and senses

A fast visual predator on small fish, crustaceans and other squid, including its own species. Prey is seized with the two long tentacles, drawn to the arms, and killed with a sharp bite to the back of the neck from a parrot-like beak. This is the mechanism the whole of squid fishing exploits: a jig is not swallowed, it is grabbed with the tentacles, and the barbless crowns of spines hold the arms rather than piercing the animal.

Vision above all. Squid eyes are large, image-forming and comparable in resolution to a fish's, and they hunt by sight — which is why lights on a pier concentrate both the bait and the squid, and why jig colour and action are argued about endlessly. They are colour-blind in the conventional sense while being able to detect polarised light. Chemoreception in the arms and a well-developed statocyst for balance and acceleration complete the picture.

Through the year

Strongly seasonal inshore. Veined squid move into shallow coastal water in autumn and winter to feed and spawn, which is when they are reachable from shore, and are in deeper water for the rest of the year. British shore squid fishing is therefore an autumn-to-late-winter business built on an inshore spawning movement.

Distribution

North-east Atlantic from Norway and Iceland to West Africa, including the whole of the British Isles and Ireland and the North Sea, from shallow inshore water to several hundred metres. More northerly in its distribution than the European squid, and dominant in catches around Scotland and the northern part of the range.

This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.

Why anglers care

The species behind a large share of British shore squid fishing, which barely existed here twenty years ago and is now a substantial autumn and winter activity on piers, breakwaters and harbour walls from Scotland to the south coast. Squid jigs — the barbed crowns known as egi in the Japanese tradition the technique came from — are fished under lights, on the drop or with a rise-and-fall retrieve. It is also a commercially important species taken as trawl by-catch and increasingly as a target. Because the animal lives a single year, the fishery has no memory: this winter's squid are unrelated to last winter's.

Handling and returning

A squid brought onto a pier will fire its ink, and it will aim. Point it away from yourself and everyone else, and expect to be inked anyway. The beak is at the centre of the arms and is capable of a genuine bite — handle the mantle, not the head end. If the animal is being kept for the table it should be killed immediately and properly rather than left in a bucket: cephalopods are recognised as sentient in UK law following the review of the evidence on decapod and cephalopod sentience, and leaving one to suffocate slowly is not defensible. Chill it at once; squid deteriorates fast.

WHAT MAY BE TAKEN, WHERE, WHEN AND HOW IS NOT ON THIS PAGE. Minimum sizes, licensing, closed areas, protected status and gathering restrictions differ between administrations and are revised. Check the current position with the fisheries or environmental authority for the water concerned.

Two British squid, and how to tell which one is in the bucket

Britain has two common loliginid squid and the shore fishery does not distinguish them.

EUROPEAN SQUID — Loligo vulgaris. The southern one. Fins proportionally long; suckers on the arms of mature males not conspicuously enlarged in the middle. Commoner in the Channel and to the south, and the species the Mediterranean and Iberian fisheries are built on.

VEINED SQUID — Loligo forbesii. The northern one and the larger. Fins proportionally shorter. Mature males have greatly enlarged suckers in the middle of the arms, which is the character a specialist uses. Dominant around Scotland and much of the North Sea and Irish Sea.

THE PRACTICAL SHORTCUT IS SIZE AND PLACE. A large squid taken off a Scottish or north-east English pier in November is far more likely to be a veined squid. A smaller one from the Channel in the same month could be either.

AND WHY IT IS WORTH BOTHERING. Two reasons. The first is that a person who thinks there is one British squid will misread everything they subsequently learn about squid fisheries, which are assessed separately. The second is the general one this sprint keeps running into: a catalogue holding one of a pair teaches a fact instead of a distinction, and the reader in front of the animal needs the distinction.

DO NOT CONFUSE EITHER WITH A CUTTLEFISH. A cuttlefish is broader and flatter, its fin runs as a continuous skirt around the whole mantle rather than as two rhomboid fins at the rear, and it contains the solid internal cuttlebone that washes up on every beach in Britain.

Practitioner consensus

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort — International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Stock assessment and scientific advice for north-east Atlantic fisheries including shellfish and cephalopods.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: shellfish and crustacean stock monitoring, biotoxin surveillance, distribution and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

One year, one spawning, and a fishery with no memory

Nearly everything unusual about squid fisheries follows from the life span.

A VEINED SQUID LIVES ABOUT A YEAR. It hatches as a miniature adult, grows extraordinarily fast, spawns once, and dies. There is no stock of older animals, no year classes accumulating, and no buffer.

SO ABUNDANCE IS THIS YEAR'S RECRUITMENT AND NOTHING ELSE. A good squid winter and a poor one are separated by what happened to a single cohort of eggs and hatchlings months earlier — by temperature, by food, by currents. It makes squid famously variable and it makes them respond very quickly to changing conditions, which is one reason cephalopod abundance in several seas has been rising while long-lived fish have not.

AND THE INSHORE SEASON IS A SPAWNING MOVEMENT. The squid come within reach of a pier in autumn and winter because they are moving inshore to breed and to feed before doing so. The eggs are laid there, in gelatinous finger-like masses attached to weed, rope, debris and hard ground, sometimes in large communal clusters.

WHICH RAISES A QUESTION WORTH SITTING WITH. A shore fishery that intercepts animals on their way to spawn, in a species that spawns once and dies, is a fishery with an unusually direct relationship to next year's abundance. That is not an argument against it — squid are enormously fecund and the commercial removal dwarfs the recreational — but it is a reason to take what you will eat and stop.

SENTIENCE IS NOT AN ASIDE HERE. Cephalopods were included as sentient in UK law following a formal review of the evidence, and a squid left in a bucket to die slowly is an animal that has been recognised as capable of suffering. Kill it immediately and properly, or put it back.

Scientific evidence

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort — International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Stock assessment and scientific advice for north-east Atlantic fisheries including shellfish and cephalopods.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: shellfish and crustacean stock monitoring, biotoxin surveillance, distribution and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where to go next

How it is caught

What these connections rest on (2)

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Eging
A statement about how a species is fished, which is angling convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, seasonal timing, tackle, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Jigging
A statement about how a species is fished, which is angling convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, seasonal timing, tackle, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where it lives

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence — 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Harbours, piers and breakwaters
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Inshore ground
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Understanding this fish

What these connections rest on (3)

Scientific evidence — 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Cephalopods as prey
A diet claim recorded at group level, pointed at a modelled prey CATEGORY, because the reference works describe the diet as a group rather than by species. Naming a particular species the catalogue happens to hold would invent a precision the evidence never had.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Handling squid, cuttlefish and octopus
An explainer that carries the mechanism the subject record depends on.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, seasonal timing, tackle, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Squid at night, and what lights actually do
An explainer that carries the mechanism the subject record depends on.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, seasonal timing, tackle, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Told apart from

What these connections rest on (3)

Practitioner consensus — 3 connections

European squid
A comparison a reader with the animal or the decision in front of them actually needs, joining two records that resolve one another.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Common cuttlefish
A comparison a reader with the animal or the decision in front of them actually needs, joining two records that resolve one another.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Curled octopus
A comparison a reader with the animal or the decision in front of them genuinely needs.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Scientific evidence — 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

European squid
Taxonomic and practical relatedness recorded because confusable species matter more to a reader than a shared family does, with the evidence naming the species the edge is about.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Identification characters, family placement and biology of Loligo vulgaris and of the species it is confused with, as set out for the fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters and family placement of Loligo vulgaris as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Rules and access

Taking crabs, lobsters, squid and shellfish: how the rules are structuredCephalopod take is regulated differently from finfish in most administrations and the position is revised.

What these connections rest on (1)

Authoritative guidance — 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

Taking crabs, lobsters, squid and shellfish: how the rules are structured
A link to a rule CONCEPT rather than to any rule. The record carrying it renders the regulatory-variance notice.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: The structure of angling regulation and representation in England, and the framework within which anglers are asked to check local rules.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- JNCC species and habitat conservation advice — Joint Nature Conservation Committee (Conservation authority)Relied on for: UK conservation designation and the framework of protected species and habitats.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
Current local bylaws
The relevant fisheries authority
The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Sources for this page

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort — International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Stock assessment and scientific advice for north-east Atlantic fisheries including shellfish and cephalopods.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: shellfish and crustacean stock monitoring, biotoxin surveillance, distribution and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour, gathering practice and regional convention, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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