| Epimeriidae | |
|---|---|
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| Epimeria cornigera (above), Epimeria parasitica (below). Both are reddish in life | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Superorder: | Peracarida |
| Order: | Amphipoda |
| Parvorder: | Amphilochidira |
| Superfamily: | Iphimedioidea |
| Family: | Epimeriidae Boeck, 1871 |
| Genera | |
2, see text | |
Epimeriidae is a family of relatively large amphipods found in cold oceans around the world.
Members of this family range from the intertidal zone to a depth of 5,695 m (18,684 ft), but overall mostly 150–2,500 m (490–8,200 ft) and in the Southern Ocean mostly 100–700 m (330–2,300 ft). [1] The highest species richness is in the Southern Ocean south of the Antarctic Convergence, followed by deep parts of the Pacific Ocean, with only a few elsewhere, including the Magellanic region, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean (both north and south) and Mediterranean Sea. [1] [2] [3] In tropical and warm-temperate regions they only occur in deep, cold waters. The vast majority are generally slow-moving and benthic, but can move fast for short distance and a few species are pelagic or semi-pelagic. [1]
The family includes both species that are widespread and species with small ranges (typically restricted to an island, seamount or ridge), and very common species and rare species. Their abundance is often directly related to the epifauna abundance: Where the epifauna is rich and diverse, so are Epimeriidae. [1]
A few species have been kept, bred and studied in cold-water (−1 to 1.5 °C or 30.2 to 34.7 °F) aquariums by scientists. [4]
They are relatively large amphipods, with adults of the various species ranging from 0.8 to 8 cm (0.3–3.1 in) in head-and-body length. They are typically white, yellowish, orange, pinkish, red or purplish, and some have quite striking colour patterns. [1] [4] [5] Some have a spiny crest along their mid-back and spines on their sides, which may serve as a protection against fish or serve as a "disruptive shape" (similar to disruptive colouration) that camouflages the amphipod. [1] [4]
Most species are predators or scavengers that feed on benthic invertebrates (such as small crustaceans, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sponges, cnidarians and polychaetes), or suspension feeders that take plankton (such as diatoms, radiolarians and foraminifers). Some are opportunistic feeders that will take a wide range of prey-types, while other species are specialists on one or a few prey types, like hydroids. [1] [5] Epimeria parasitica is a parasite on sea cucumbers. [1]
The newly hatched young resemble miniature versions of the adults (there is no larvae stage). They may climb onto their mother and stay with her for a period, but in other species they leave immediately. [1] [4]
Two genera are placed in this family by the World Register of Marine Species. [6] A few others were formerly included, but are now regarded as subgenera (not full genera) or placed in other families ( Actinacanthus in family Acanthonotozomellidae and Paramphithoe in family Paramphithoidae). [7] [8]
With more than 80 described species, Epimeria is by far the most diverse genus in the family, has been the target of several studies and is considered among the most iconic taxa in Southern Ocean. Nevertheless, many aspects of their life is poorly known, several new species have been described in the last decade and it is likely that several undescribed species remain. [1] There is only a single species in the genus Uschakoviella. [9]
Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from 1 to 340 millimetres and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far described. They are mostly marine animals, but are found in almost all aquatic environments. Some 1,900 species live in fresh water, and the order also includes the terrestrial sandhoppers such as Talitrus saltator and Arcitalitrus sylvaticus.
Thorina is a genus of amphipod crustaceans comprising the two species Thorina spinosa and Thorina elongata. They are deep-sea species, found at depths of 900 metres (3,000 ft) and 1,500–4,892 m (4,921–16,050 ft), respectively, in the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean.
Gammaridea is one of the suborders of the order Amphipoda, comprising small, shrimp-like crustaceans. Until recently, in a traditional classification, it encompassed about 7,275 (92%) of the 7,900 species of amphipods described by then, in approximately 1,000 genera, divided among around 125 families. That concept of Gammaridea included almost all freshwater amphipods, while most of the members still were marine.
The Hyperiidea are a suborder of amphipods, small aquatic crustaceans. Unlike the other suborders of Amphipoda, hyperiids are exclusively marine and do not occur in fresh water. Hyperiids are distinguished by their large eyes and planktonic habitat. Most species of hyperiids are parasites or predators of salps and jellyfish in the plankton, although Themisto gaudichaudii and a few relatives are free-swimming predators of copepods and other small planktonic animals.
Paracalliopiidae is a family of amphipods, containing the following genera:
Amaryllididae is a family of marine benthic amphipods found throughout the southern hemisphere. These smooth, laterally compressed amphipods can be distinguished by the accessory setal row of the mandible having a distal tuft. It was first described in 2002 by James K. Lowry and Helen E. Stoddart. It contains the following genera:
Abludomelita obtusata is a brown colored species of amphipod crustacean. It may grow up to 9 millimetres (0.35 in) long and lacks a rostrum. It lives in marine sediments of any grain size, but with a preference for a mud content of 10%–40%, around the coasts of the southern North Sea.
Babr is a genus of amphipod crustaceans in the family Pallaseidae, endemic to Lake Baikal. There are 2 species in the genus.
Pandalus montagui is a species of cold-water shrimp in the family Pandalidae. It is the type species of the genus Pandalus and is variously known as the pink shrimp, Aesop shrimp and Aesop prawn.
Neolithodes is a genus of king crabs, in the family Lithodidae. They are found in all major oceans, both in high and low latitudes. Although there are records from water as shallow as 124 m (407 ft) in cold regions, most records are much deeper, typically 700–2,000 m (2,300–6,600 ft), with the deepest confirmed at 5,238 m (17,185 ft). They are fairly large to large crabs that typically are reddish in color and spiny, although the size of these spines varies depending on species.
Caprelloidea is a superfamily of marine crustaceans in the order Amphipoda. It includes "untypical" forms of amphipods, such as the skeleton shrimps (Caprellidae) and whale lice (Cyamidae). The group was formerly treated as one of the four amphipod suborders, Caprellidea, but has been moved down to the superfamily rank by Myers & Lowry after phylogenetic studies of the group, and is now contained in the infraorder Corophiida of the suborder Senticaudata. The group includes the following families.
Dikwa is a genus of amphipods in the family Dikwidae, containing the following species:
Paramoera walkeri is an amphipod of the genus Paramoera. It lives around Antarctica.
Victoriopisa cusatensis is a amphipod species in the family Eriopisidae. The species name ‘cusatensis’ refers to the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). This species has been described by the team of researchers in 2018 from the Valanthakad mangrove area of Vembanad backwater.
Caprella unica is a species of skeleton shrimp in the genus Caprella within the family Caprellidae. The larvae are plankton-like. They are relatively small, with two large and two small antennae. They only live in the sea, and are widely found in Cape Cod, Maine and Newfoundland.
Bougisia is a genus of plankton in the sub-order Hyperiidea – a type of so-called "hyperid" amphipoda. The genus Bougisia is the only subordinate taxon in the monotypic family Bougisidae. The genus Bougisia is also monotypic, being represented by the single species, Bougisia ornata. This species lives as plankton in tropical and sub-tropical salt water. Hyperiidea species normally have a physique that differs from other types of amphipod.
Eurythenes is a genus of marine amphipods in the family Eurytheneidae.
Cystisoma is a genus of amphipod. It is the only member of the family Cystisomatidae within the Hyperiidea. The genus is noted for its nearly completely transparent body, adapted for life in low light waters.
Niphargellus is a genus of Amphipod crustaceans within the family Niphargidae. The genus contains three known species, which are characterized by the absence of D-setae on the Amphipods mandibular palp. The presence or absence of setae, specifically the D-setae, is a distinguishing feature used to classify organisms within the genus.
James Kenneth Lowry was a zoologist specialising in amphipods.
Data related to Epimeriidae at Wikispecies