Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History  Dept. Invertebrate Zoology

     Key to Cephalopod Families


This page introduces a set of interactive keys allowing identification of a decapodiform cephalopod to the family level. You will be presented with a set of characters, and you will be requested to select the states of those characters that best correspond to the specimen you are trying to identify.

The keys do not require that you select a state for every character listed. If you are not sure, or if the character cannot be assessed, leave it blank. Indeed, you may select the state for only a single character. You will then be presented with a list of families possessing the character state(s) selected, along with a reduced key for the identification of your animal. At any point, you can return to the beginning of the key, or you can back up, reset the characters selected and try again.

We are constantly updating and correcting these pages. Please direct any feedback to vecchione.michael@nmnh.si.edu. We welcome praise as well as criticisms!
This page was last updated on June 18, 2001.

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