Grooveback Gglass Shrimp

Biology/Natural History: Some notes on the biology of Parapasiphae species, and a key to the different species can be found in Wasmer, 1967, 2005

Midwater

Geographical Range: British Columbia to Baja California, Indo-Pacific, Atlantic, off eastern Australia

Depth Range: Deep mesopelagic

Pasiphaeids are true shrimp which have enlarged first and second pereopods, which are chelate. Genus Parapasiphaea is not as extremely laterally compressed as is genus Pasiphaea, plus it has a true rostrum.

How to Distinguish from Similar Species: The two pairs of enlarged, chelatepereopods distinguish this species from shrimp in other families. The other local Pasiphaeids, such as Pasiphaea pacifica, are strongly laterally compressed and may be partly transparent. Members of genus Pasiphaea also do not have a true rostrum--instead, a median spine from the dorsal carapace projects up just behind the front of the carapace, looking somewhat like a rostrum. A related species also found bathypelagically in our region, Parapasiphae cristata, differs because P. sulcatifrons has no teeth at the base of the rostrum and the fingers of the second chelae are shorter than the palm, while Parapasiphae cristata has two teeth at the base of the rostrum and the fingers of the second chelae are longer than the palm.

Western Atlantic: Greenland and Iceland to Bermuda and the Gulf of Mexico