''Corophium volutator'' is a species of

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

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 ...

in the family

Corophiidae Corophiidae is a family of amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more th ...

. It is found in

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

s of the northern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is native to the north-east Atlantic Ocean, and has been introduced to the north-west Atlantic.

Description

''Corophium volutator'' is a slender animal, up to long, "whitish with brown markings". The head bear two pairs of antennae, the first of which are small and point forwards, while the distinctive second pair are much longer and thicker.

Life cycle

There are 1–2 generations per year, and the females brood the eggs inside their brood pouch or ''marsupium''. They can occur in huge quantities: up to 60,000 per square metre have been observed.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1460707 Corophiidea Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1766 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas