Streptocephalus proboscideus

Last updated

Streptocephalus proboscideus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Branchiopoda
Order: Anostraca
Family: Streptocephalidae
Genus: Streptocephalus
Species:
S. proboscideus
Binomial name
Streptocephalus proboscideus
(Frauenfeld, 1873)

Streptocephalus proboscideus, sometimes called the Sudanese fairy shrimp, is a species of fairy shrimp found in eastern Africa.

Contents

Characteristics

Streptocephalus proboscideus may reach 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in length. The colouring varies from translucent to almost black. The Latin name, Streptocephalus proboscideus, means "twisted head with a proboscis", referring to a median appendage on the head between the antennae. The male antennae are the main identification feature of this species.

It is an active swimmer, requiring a water temperature of 25 °C (77 °F) or higher. This fairy shrimp may filter up to 2 litres (0.44 imp gal; 0.53 US gal) of water in 24 hours. S. proboscideus may live as long as 9 months under laboratory conditions.

Ecology

The Sudanese fairy shrimp is found in shallow rain pools where it may form huge swarms. Its eggs may lie dormant in dry mud for several years. This fairy shrimp is an omnivore that can filter particles as small as yeast cells or as large as 0.2 mm. It may also eat nauplii of its own species or other species indiscriminately.

Life cycle

An S. proboscideus nauplius turns into a mature individual in less than two weeks. The female produces clutches of 100–300 eggs. An average female may produce 35–40 such clutches in her lifetime. She must be fertilised after each clutch.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branchiopoda</span> Class of crustaceans

Branchiopoda is a class of crustaceans. It comprises fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, Diplostraca, Notostraca and the Devonian Lepidocaris. They are mostly small, freshwater animals that feed on plankton and detritus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damselfish</span> Group of fishes

Damselfish are those within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastenae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, with the largest species being about 30cm in length. Most damselfish species exist only in marine environments, but a few inhabit brackish or fresh water. These fish are found globally in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brine shrimp</span> Genus of aquatic crustaceans

Artemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. It is the only genus in the family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of Artemia dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Lake Urmia, Iran, with an example called by an Iranian geographer an "aquatic dog", although the first unambiguous record is the report and drawings made by Schlösser in 1757 of animals from Lymington, England. Artemia populations are found worldwide, typically in inland saltwater lakes, but occasionally in oceans. Artemia are able to avoid cohabiting with most types of predators, such as fish, by their ability to live in waters of very high salinity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mysida</span> Small, shrimp-like crustacean

Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in this pouch and are not free-swimming characterises the order. The mysid's head bears a pair of stalked eyes and two pairs of antennae. The thorax consists of eight segments each bearing branching limbs, the whole concealed beneath a protective carapace and the abdomen has six segments and usually further small limbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notostraca</span> Order of small freshwater animals

The order Notostraca, containing the single family Triopsidae, is a group of crustaceans known as tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp. The two genera, Triops and Lepidurus, are considered living fossils, with similar forms having existed since the end of the Devonian, around 360 million years ago. They have a broad, flat carapace, which conceals the head and bears a single pair of compound eyes. The abdomen is long, appears to be segmented and bears numerous pairs of flattened legs. The telson is flanked by a pair of long, thin caudal rami. Phenotypic plasticity within taxa makes species-level identification difficult, and is further compounded by variation in the mode of reproduction. Notostracans are omnivores living on the bottom of temporary pools and shallow lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clam shrimp</span> Suborder of arthropods

Clam shrimp are a group of bivalved branchiopod crustaceans that resemble the unrelated bivalved molluscs. They are extant and also known from the fossil record, from at least the Devonian period and perhaps before. They were originally classified in the former order Conchostraca, which later proved to be paraphyletic, due to the fact that water fleas are nested within clam shrimps. Clam shrimp are now divided into three orders, Cyclestherida, Laevicaudata, and Spinicaudata, in addition to the fossil family Leaiidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anostraca</span> Order of crustaceans

Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mountain lakes, and Antarctic ice. They are usually 6–25 mm (0.24–0.98 in) long. Most species have 20 body segments, bearing 11 pairs of leaf-like phyllopodia, and the body lacks a carapace. They swim "upside-down" and feed by filtering organic particles from the water or by scraping algae from surfaces, with the exception of Branchinecta gigas, or "giant fairy shrimp", which is itself a predator of other species of anostracans. They are an important food for many birds and fish, and some are cultured and harvested for use as fish food. There are 300 species spread across 8 families.

<i>Triops longicaudatus</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Triops longicaudatus is a freshwater crustacean of the order Notostraca, resembling a miniature horseshoe crab. It is characterized by an elongated, segmented body, a flattened shield-like brownish carapace covering two thirds of the thorax, and two long filaments on the abdomen. The genus name Triops comes from Greek ὤψ or ṓps, meaning "eye" prefixed with Latin tri-, "three", in reference to its three eyes. Longicaudatus is an Latin neologism combining longus ("long") and caudatus ("tailed"), referring to its long tail structures. Triops longicaudatus is found in fresh water ponds and pools, often in places where few higher forms of life can exist.

The midvalley fairy shrimp, Branchinecta mesovallensis, is a small freshwater crustacean in the Branchinectidae family endemic to shallow ephemeral pools near the middle of California's Central Valley. These vernal pool ecosystems are home to other unique organisms adapted to the ephemeral nature of the water cycle in the pools in California's mediterranean climate.

<i>Streptocephalus</i> Genus of small freshwater animals

Streptocephalus is a genus of fairy shrimp found in temporary waters in Africa, Australia, Eurasia, and Central and North America, following its ancient origin in Gondwana. It contains the following species:

<i>Streptocephalus woottoni</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Streptocephalus woottoni, with the common name Riverside fairy shrimp, is a rare species of crustacean in the family Streptocephalidae. It is native to Southern California in the United States, and northern Baja California in northwest Mexico.

<i>Neocaridina davidi</i> Species of crustacean

Neocaridina davidi is a freshwater shrimp originating from eastern China and northern Taiwan and introduced in the rest of Taiwan, Japan, and Hawaii, which is commonly kept in aquaria. The natural coloration of the shrimp is green-brown. There are a wide range of colors including red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet, black, etc.; however, the red morph is more frequently sold. The density of coloration on adult shrimp, dependent on breeding, determines their sale price and "quality" (grading). This "quality" is purely aesthetic, as the size, behavior and other characteristics of the animal are more or less equal across varieties. Full-grown shrimp reach about 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long. They prefer clean water, with a pH of 6.5-8, and a temperature of 14–29 °C (57–84 °F) They are most comfortable at 22 °C (72 °F). N. davidi shrimp are omnivores that may live 1–2 years. These shrimps have previously been classified as Neocaridina heteropoda and Neocaridina denticulata sinensis, however are now known as Neocaridina davidi which is based on the oldest known published description of the species.

<i>Neomysis integer</i> Species of crustacean

Neomysis integer is a species of opossum shrimp found in shallow marine bays and estuaries of Europe, with a transparent greenish or brownish body and a large cephalothorax. It is found in very shallow water in both high and low-salinity habitats. It is a filter feeder and the female broods her eggs in a brood pouch beneath her cephalothorax.

<i>Tanymastix stagnalis</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Tanymastix stagnalis is a species of Anostraca that lives in temporary pools across Europe. It may reach up to 2 cm (0.8 in) in some areas and has 11 pairs of bristly, flattened appendages. It swims upside-down and filters food particles from the water. It is the only species of Anostraca in Ireland, having been discovered in Rahasane turlough in 1974.

<i>Chirocephalus diaphanus</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Chirocephalus diaphanus is a widely distributed European species of fairy shrimp that lives as far north as Great Britain, where it is the only surviving species of fairy shrimp and is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is a translucent animal, about 0.5 in (13 mm) long, with reddened tips to the abdomen and appendages. The body comprises a head, a thorax bearing 11 pairs of appendages, and a seven-segmented abdomen. In males, the antennae are enlarged to form "frontal appendages", while females have an egg pouch at the end of the thorax.

Branchinecta brushi is a species of fairy shrimp found at an altitude of 5,930 m (19,460 ft) in the Chilean Andes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrimp</span> Decapod crustaceans

A shrimp is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – typically belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are also referred to as "shrimp".

<i>Streptocephalus sirindhornae</i> Species of small freshwater animal

Streptocephalus sirindhornae is a species of crustacean in the family Streptocephalidae; a genus of freshwater dwelling shrimp belonging to the Anostraca order of Branchiopoda. It is endemic to Thailand, and it was named after Princess Sirindhorn.

The fairy shrimp, Phallocryptus fahimii, is a fresh water crustacean discovered in 2017 from a seasonal lake in the Lut Desert in southeast Iran. It's a heat-resistant crustacea living in a lake with water temperatures reaching 87 °F (31 °C). It is the fifth known species to be discovered in the genus Phallocryptus. It received its name after the late Hadi Fahimii, a conservationist who took part in the expedition of the Lut Desert and died in 2018 from an airplane crash. Morphologically, this newly discovered species shows minimal differences from its relatives in the Phallocryptus genus. A distinguishing characteristic of this fairy shrimp is that it can lay its eggs in desert sand for decades while they await the rare presence of water. P. fahimii developed these unique characteristics due to its harsh environmental conditions throughout the Lut Desert, which in Persian, translates into “desert of emptiness.” Dr.Hossein Rajaei, one of the researchers that made the shrimp discovery, suggested, “they gave it this name because many people believed there was no life in this desert.”

References

Further reading