#crustacea
Usually, amphipods are small, with a shrimp-like shapes, these crustaceans are found mostly marine and freshwater ecosystems. But a new species discovered in the Atacama Trench, in front of the Atacama desert, northern Chile, has shown a new exception to the rule.
The Eurythenes atacamensis is a very large amphipod species, with a maximum observed length 8.3 cm. Despite the extreme environmental conditions of high pressure, low temperature, and limited food availability, this species is considered abundant in deep sea ecosystems in the Atacama trench, and feed mainly in carrion. This finding highlights that even dominant and ecologically important species are still being discovered within the deep sea.
- Photo:Eurythenes atacamensis, female, juvenile, intersex and male desposited at the MNHNCL. Size presented here is nearly close to real size.
- Reference (Open Access): Weston.et al. 2021. Eurythenes atacamensis sp. nov. (Crustacea: Amphipoda) exhibits ontogenetic vertical stratification across abyssal and hadal depths in the Atacama Trench, eastern South Pacific Ocean. Mar. Biodivers.
Photo description: Four Eurythenes atacamensis amphipods in near real size are show in a black fond. The size is big, and one big could fit in an adult hand.
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Callichimaera perplexa
In March, I looked into arthropod coloration and asked my friend Jo — “got cool crabs for me?”
She told me about a fossil chimera crab currently waiting to be published. This image is based on a 3D model produced by the research team, led by Javier Luque, that I just tried to color.
Both of their research are now published and I’m excited about this weird little crab! Read the NatGeo story here.
Javier’s Callichimaerapaper·Jo’s Crustacean Phylogenomic paper
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Paromola cuvieri is a species of crab belonging to a group known as carrier crabs.
Carrier crabs just LOVE to carry things.
They’re specially adapted for it, too. Their hindmost legs are positioned in such a way that they point straight up and can hold sponges or lumps of coral aloft.
Presumably it helps with camouflage so they just look like a sponge with massive crab legs sticking out for no discernible reason.
This particular species comes from deep, dark depths near Europe and Africa, and they reach about 20 cm long. Males have enormous claws that can span as much as four feet! Good luck hiding that.
…Images: OCEANA
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Photo by Stefano Scortegagna |Info
Lybia tessellata is a species of small crab in the family Xanthidae. It is found in shallow parts of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean. Like other members of the genus Lybia, it is commonly known as the pom-pom craborboxer crab because of its habit of carrying a sea anemone around in each of its claws, these resembling pom-poms or boxing gloves. It is a small crab growing to a width of about 2.5 cm (1 in) and is found in shallow water in the tropical Indo-Pacific region;
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you never know what small critters you will find on a dive, like a 4mm shrimp camouflaged on a gigantic blue starfish…
Starfish Shrimp (Periclemenes soror) - Atmosphere Resorts House Reef, Dauin, Philippines
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