Abstract: Statolith is one of the most important hard tissues in Cephalopods, which is widely used in the study of Cephalopod fishery biology and ecology. Based on 261 samples of Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi collected in theJapan Sea in December 2018 by the Chinese Jigging fleets, we examined the statolith shape and growth characteristics. The results of principal component analysis showed that the total statolith length (TSL), wing length (WL), rostrum lateral dome length (RLL) and maximum width (MW) could be used as the morphological characteristic parameters to study the morphological growth of statolith. The analysis of covariance showed no significant gender difference in the relationships between the morphological characteristic parameters and mantle length (ML) as well as body weight (BW). Akaike’s information criterion indicated that linear function could be best describing the relationships between ML and TSL or WL, power functions were best for the relationships between ML and RLL, and logarithm functions for ML and MW. The relationships between BW and TSL, BW and MW were best described by linear functions, but power function for BW and WL. The relationship between BW and RLL was best described by logarithm function. The absolute size of statolith gradually increased with increasing ML, but the morphological structure ratio of statolith remained basically unchanged.

Key words: Berryteuthis magister shevtsovi, statolith, growth, the Japan Sea.