''Americamysis bahia'' is a

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

-like

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

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Mysida Mysida is an order (biology), order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a Brood pouch (Peracarida), brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The ...

, the opossum shrimps. It is native to

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

waters in Texas and Florida in the United States. It is often referred to in the literature as ''Mysidopsis bahia'' and is widely cultured and used in the laboratory for

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...

testing.

Description

''Americamysis bahia'' grows to a length of about , the females being larger than the males. These shrimps are transparent, often with a yellowish, brownish or blackish tinge.

Distribution and habitat

''Americamysis bahia'' is native to the east coast of the United States, its range extending from Rhode Island to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. It is an estuarine species and can tolerate a wide range of

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

levels ranging from 54 to 2 psu (practical salinity units), being most common around 30 psu. It is seldom found at depths greater than and its typical habitat is over sandy or muddy seabeds, often in

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

Behaviour

''Americamysis bahia'' is found on or just above the seabed, tending to be concentrated in slight depressions and facing towards the current. At night it makes vertical migrations to feed at the surface. Opossum shrimps are

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

s and although the diet of ''Americamysis bahia'' in the wild has not been studied, examination of the stomach contents of the closely related ''

Americamysis almyra ''Americamysis almyra'' is a shrimp-like crustacean in the order Mysida, the opossum shrimps. It is native to estuarine waters in the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. It is often referred to in the literature as ''Mysidopsis almyra'' ...

'' showed 31% vascular plant debris and 11%

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s and

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s. In the laboratory it is usually fed on the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of the brine shrimp ''

Artemia salina ''Artemia salina'' is a species of brine shrimp – aquatic crustaceans that are more closely related to ''Triops'' and cladocerans than to true shrimp. It belongs to a lineage that does not appear to have changed much in . ''A. salina'' is nati ...

''. Opossum shrimps play an important part in the food chain and are consumed in large quantities by such fish as the inland silverside, whiffs and

flounders Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thoug ...

Life cycle

Female ''Americamysis bahia'' shrimps become mature between the twelfth and twentieth day, depending on diet and temperature. The eggs are fertilised and the embryos develop in the female’s brood pouch, underneath her thorax. Batches of five to seven young per brood are usual and are released into the water column in four to six days. The juveniles are

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

ic for twenty-four hours before settling on the bottom. Females can produce multiple broods over the course of a few months.

Use in research

''Americamysis bahia'' is relatively sensitive to toxic pollutants. Because of this and the fact that it is small, has a short life cycle, and is easy to culture, it is extensively used in toxicity testing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3869156 Mysida Crustaceans described in 1969 Arthropods of the United States