''Photis conchicola'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of marine

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 ...

which lives in the Eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It grows to a length of , and lives on rocky beaches among

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and surfgrass. It often inhabits discarded

gastropod shell The gastropod shell is part of the body of a Gastropoda, gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium s ...

s, which it attaches to marine plants.

Ecology

Predators of ''P. conchicola'' include the fish ''

Embiotoca lateralis ''Embiotoca lateralis'', commonly known as the striped surfperch or striped seaperch, is a species of surfperch The surfperches are a family of perciform fishes, the Embiotocidae. They are mainly found in northeast Pacific Ocean (as far south ...

''. The shells used by ''P. conchicola'' are chiefly ''

Alia carinata ''Alia carinata'', common name the carinate dove shell, is a species of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Columbellidae, the dove snails.Monsecour, K. (2012). Alia carinata (Hinds, 1844). Accessed through: World Regis ...

'', '' Tricolia pulloides'', '' Bittium eschrichtii'', '' Amphissa versicolor'', ''

Lacuna marmorata ''Lacuna marmorata'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by mar ...

'' and ''

Lacuna unifasciata ''Lacuna unifasciata'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by m ...

''.

References

Corophiidea Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean Crustaceans described in 1936 {{Amphipod-stub