''Bathyporeia elegans'' is a species of amphipod

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

in the genus '' Bathyporeia'' which occurs in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is unpigmented, and grows up to long.

Description

''Bathyporeia elegans'' is a translucent, laterally-flattened sand-digger shrimp up to long. The head bears two pairs of antennae, four pairs of feeding appendages and a pair of large red eyes. The basal segments of the first pair of antennae are rectangular with feather-like

chaeta A chaeta or cheta (from Greek χαίτη “crest, mane, flowing hair"; plural: chaetae) is a chitinous bristle or seta found in annelid worms, (although the term is also frequently used to describe similar structures in other invertebrates such ...

e on the ventral surface; several smaller segments extend from the base forming a zigzag, and the antenna is tipped by a

flagellum A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

, with five to six segments in females and nine to eleven segments in males. The second pair of antennae have five segments and in females, are tipped by an eight to ten-segmented flagellum, and are twice as long as the first pair. In males, the second pair of antennae have filiform flagella which extend the whole length of the body.

Distribution and habitat

''Bathyporeia elegans'' occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel. Its range extends from northern Norway along the European coast as far south as North Africa, Madeira and the Canary Islands. It is typically found in fine to medium-grain sand and muddy sand at depths between about .

Ecology

Animals with which this sand shrimp is often associated in the North Sea include the bivalve mollusc ''

Abra prismatica ''Abra prismatica'' is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Semelidae. It occurs in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, where it lives on the seabed, in shallow areas buried in soft sediment. Descript ...

'' and various

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...

worms. The brittlestar '' Amphiura filiformis'' and the

cumacea Cumacea is an order of small marine crustaceans of the superorder Peracarida, occasionally called hooded shrimp or comma shrimp. Their unique appearance and uniform body plan makes them easy to distinguish from other crustaceans. They live in sof ...

n crustacean ''

Eudorellopsis deformis ''Eudorellopsis'' is a genus of hooded shrimps within the family Leuconidae. There are currently 9 species assigned to the genus. Species * ''Eudorellopsis biplicata'' * ''Eudorellopsis deformis'' * ''Eudorellopsis derzhavini'' * ''Eudorel ...

'' may also be present in the habitat.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2172340 Gammaridea Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1938