Habitat
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
Bathypelagic
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- Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory
Distribution
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
Geographical Range: Vancouver Island to Gulf of Panama, Bay of Biscay to Angola in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean. Type specimen was captured near Panama.
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- Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory
Habitat
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
Depth Range: 600-2500 m
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Comprehensive Description
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
This is a true shrimp from the family Oplophoridae, which lives in deep midwater offshore. True shrimp have the second abdominal epimera overlapping that of segment 1 and 2. Family Oplophoridae is almost entirely midwater, has exopodites on its pereopods, and pereopods 1 and 2 are longer and more stout than the others. Systellaspis have a well-developed rostrum and no dorsal ridge on the sixth abdominal segment. There is no dorsal carina or posteromesial tooth on the second abdominal segment, but there is at least a small posteromesial tooth on the fifth abdominal segment. The sixth abdominal segment is much longer than the 5th segment. The telson ends in a spiny endpiece which has a pair of longer spines on the sides of its base. Their eyes are well pigmented, eggs are large and few. S. cristata has a long rostrum which is more than half as long as the rest of the carapace and extends to at least the distal fourth of the antennal scale. The dorsal carina on the carapace runs back nearly to the posterior carapace margin, and a sinuous lateral carina runs along the side of the carapace from near the eye almost to the posterior carapace margin. Another carina runs along the ventral margin of the carapace. The third abdominal segment also has a dorsal spine on the posterior edge, as seen above. The telson has 2 or more rows of at least small spines on each side. Total length to 81 mm for males and 169 mm for females.
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Look Alikes
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
How to Distinguish from Similar Species: S. braueri has a shorter, triangular rostrum with the distal third free of spines. S. debilis, which lives further south, does have a long rostrum but does not have the sinuous lateral or ventral carina on the carapace. Its 6th abdominal segment is also only about 1 2/3 as long as the 5th and it has dorsolateral rows of not more than 10 spines on the telson.
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- Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory
Comprehensive Description
provided by Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
Biology/Natural History: This bathypelagic species is not very common. Only 2 individuals have been recorded captured off British Columbia. Atlantic individuals carry large reddish-orange eggs.
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- Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory
Habitat
provided by World Register of Marine Species
Known from seamounts and knolls
Stocks, K. 2009. Seamounts Online: an online information system for seamount biology. Version 2009-1. World Wide Web electronic publication.
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- WoRMS Editorial Board
Habitat
provided by World Register of Marine Species
Mesopelagic
Census of Marine Zooplankton, 2006. NOAA Ship Ronald H Brown, deployment RHB0603, Sargasso Sea. Peter Wiebe, PI. Identifications by L. Bercial, N. Copley, A. Cornils, L. Devi, H. Hansen, R. Hopcroft, M. Kuriyama, H. Matsuura, D. Lindsay, L. Madin, F. Pagè
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