| Callianassa subterranea | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Family: | Callianassidae |
| Genus: | Callianassa |
| Species: | C. subterranea |
| Binomial name | |
| Callianassa subterranea (Montagu, 1808) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Callianassa subterranea is a species of burrowing ghost shrimp. This species is known by such generic common names as "mud shrimp" and "ghost shrimp". [2]
Callianassa subterranea has an elongated body, a short small carapace, and a short rostrum. Its pale, translucent exoskeleton is not heavily calcified and remains relatively soft and flexible. Its large claws are unequal in size and are larger in males than in females. C. subterranea has very small eyes and grows up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in length. [2] [3]
Like many similar thalassinidean decapods, C. subterranea is a deposit-feeder that ingests sediment particles in order to scrape off and digest the organic coating called biofilm that sticks to them. To facilitate this type of foraging, its mouthparts, except for the mandible, are covered with a variety of setae designed for sediment denitrification. [4] [5] Its pereiopods are highly specialized for the digging activity of a deposit feeder and are not used for grooming. [6]
C. subterranea has a widespread marine distribution from Norway to the Mediterranean Sea. It has been recorded in large numbers in the southern North Sea and the north-eastern Irish Sea. [3] Its presence has been recorded on the south coast of Britain and the west coast of Scotland. In Ireland it has been recorded at a single site in the Kenmare River area. However, as it is a subterranean species, it likely has a more widespread range that has been recorded. [2]
As its scientific name implies, this species has a burrowing habit and lives underneath the wet, sandy sediment of its benthic zone habitat. C. subterranea creates complex, multi-branched tunnel systems up to 81 cm deep from the lower shore to the shallow sublittoral. Each tunnel complex has several inhalant shafts which terminate on the surface with a funnel-shaped opening in the center of a conical mound of ejected sediment. [2] [3] Its burrows often interconnect in complex patterns with those inhabited by other species of burrowing fish and crabs such as Goneplax rhomboides , Cepola macrophthalma , Lesueurigobius friesii , and Nephrops norvegicus . [7]
The construction of the burrows varies according to the characteristics of the sediment in which the individuals dwell and reach their maximum depth and complexity in Scottish sea lochs and other areas with fine-grained mud. [3]
The Sipuncula or Sipunculida is a class containing about 162 species of unsegmented marine annelid worms. Sipuncula was once considered a phylum, but was demoted to a class of Annelida, based on recent molecular work.
The Echiura, or spoon worms, are a small group of marine animals. Once treated as a separate phylum, they are now considered to belong to Annelida. Annelids typically have their bodies divided into segments, but echiurans have secondarily lost their segmentation. The majority of echiurans live in burrows in soft sediment in shallow water, but some live in rock crevices or under boulders, and there are also deep sea forms. More than 230 species have been described. Spoon worms are cylindrical, soft-bodied animals usually possessing a non-retractable proboscis which can be rolled into a scoop-shape to feed. In some species the proboscis is ribbon-like, longer than the trunk and may have a forked tip. Spoon worms vary in size from less than a centimetre in length to more than a metre.
Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongside groups including the hermit crabs and mole crabs. They are distributed worldwide in the oceans, and occur from near the surface to deep sea hydrothermal vents, with one species occupying caves above sea level. More than 900 species have been described, in around 60 genera. Some species form dense aggregations, either on the sea floor or in the water column, and a small number are commercially fished.
Bioturbation is defined as the reworking of soils and sediments by animals or plants. It includes burrowing, ingestion, and defecation of sediment grains. Bioturbating activities have a profound effect on the environment and are thought to be a primary driver of biodiversity. The formal study of bioturbation began in the 1800s by Charles Darwin experimenting in his garden. The disruption of aquatic sediments and terrestrial soils through bioturbating activities provides significant ecosystem services. These include the alteration of nutrients in aquatic sediment and overlying water, shelter to other species in the form of burrows in terrestrial and water ecosystems, and soil production on land.
The acorn worms or Enteropneusta are a hemichordate class of invertebrates consisting of one order of the same name. The closest non-hemichordate relatives of the Enteropneusta are the echinoderms. There are 111 known species of acorn worm in the world, the main species for research being Saccoglossus kowalevskii. Two families—Harrimaniidae and Ptychoderidae—separated at least 370 million years ago.
Axiidea is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans. They are colloquially known as mud shrimp, ghost shrimp, or burrowing shrimp; however, these decapods are only distantly related to true shrimp. Axiidea and Gebiidea are divergent infraoders of the former infraorder Thalassinidea. These infraorders have converged ecologically and morphologically as burrowing forms. Based on molecular evidence as of 2009, it is now widely believed that these two infraorders represent two distinct lineages separate from one another. Since this is a recent change, much of the literature and research surrounding these infraorders still refers to the Axiidea and Gebiidea in combination as "thalassinidean" for the sake of clarity and reference. This division based on molecular evidence is consistent with the groupings proposed by Robert Gurney in 1938 based on larval developmental stages.
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 soft-bottoms such as mud and sand, mostly in the marine environment. There are more than 1,500 species of cumaceans formally described. The species diversity of Cumacea increases with depth.
Zoophycos is a somewhat cosmopolitan ichnogenus thought to be produced by moving and feeding polychaete worms.
Upogebiidae is a family of mud shrimp crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Gebiidea, within the order Decapoda. They are infauna, living their entire adult lives in seafloor burrows. Over 100 species have been identified, with different species often highly specialized for different types of substrate, even including sea sponges or coral. They are filter feeders, although some species also deposit feed.
Amblyeleotris steinitzi, Steinitz' prawn goby or simply Steinitz' goby, is a species of small fish in the family Gobiidae. It lives in association with an alpheid shrimp and is found from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean.
Gilvossius tyrrhenus is a species of mud shrimp which grows to a length of 70 mm (2.8 in). It lives in burrows in shallow sandy parts of the sea-bed in the Mediterranean Sea and northern Atlantic Ocean. It is the most common thalassinidean in the Mediterranean, and has been used as bait by fishermen for at least 200 years.
Scotoplanes is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumbers of the family Elpidiidae. Its species are commonly known as sea pigs.
Goneplax rhomboides is a species of crab. It is known by the common name angular crab because of its angular carapace. Although it is also called the square crab, its shell is in fact more trapezoidal than square. This species is also known as the mud-runner because they are able to run away quickly when threatened.
Neotrypaea californiensis, the Bay ghost shrimp, is a species of ghost shrimp that lives on the Pacific coast of North America. It is a pale animal which grows to a length of 11.5 cm (4.5 in). One claw is bigger than the other, especially in males, and the enlarged claw is thought to have a function in mating. N. californiensis is a deposit feeder that lives in extensive burrow systems, and is responsible for high rates of bioturbation. It adversely affects oyster farms, and its numbers are controlled in some places by the application of pesticides. It carries out an important role in the ecosystem, and is used by fishermen as bait.
Lepidophthalmus turneranus, the Cameroon ghost shrimp, is a species of "ghost shrimp" or "mud lobster" that lives off the coast of West Africa. It occasionally erupts into dense swarms, one of which resulted in the naming of the country Cameroon.
Squilla empusa is a species of mantis shrimp found in coastal areas of the western Atlantic Ocean. It excavates and occupies a burrow in soft sediment from which it emerges, mainly at night, to feed on fish and invertebrate prey.
Clausidium dissimile is a species of copepod that has been found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Massachusetts to Florida. They are found on the bodies of mud shrimp of the family Callianassidae, or from water collected from mud shrimp burrows.
Solecurtus strigilatus, also known as the rosy razor clam, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Solecurtidae. This mollusc is a suspension feeder and can burrow with great rapidity to escape predators. It is an unusual bivalve in that its shell valves are too small to contain all the soft tissue, and the animal is unable to retreat into its shell.
Thalassina anomala, known as the scorpion mud lobster, is a species of crustacean in the family Thalassinidae.
Caridina typus, also known as the Australian Amano Shrimp, is a species of amphidromous atyid shrimp. It was first described by H. Milne-Edwards in 1837. It has a broad distribution in tropical freshwater habitats in the Indo-West Pacific region, with its western range extending to eastern Africa and its eastern range extending to Polynesia. It is commonly found in rivers and streams in coastal areas or on islands. C. typus is known to play a role in sediment distribution and shredding leaf litter, manipulating the environment using their pereiopods and setaceous chelae. The species is also an important component of the food web, both as scavengers and as prey items, and is considered a keystone species for the stream ecosystems it inhabits. According to Choy and Marshall, the species can be characterized by a "short, dorsally unarmed rostrum, the presence of epipods on the first four pairs of pereiopods, and the presence of an appendix interna on the endopod of the first pleopod of both sexes." It can be kept in captivity by aquarists as pets.