Length: 3mm. Body smooth. Antenna 1 short, about 1/3 body length; antenna 2 a little shorter than antenna 1, flagellum 2-segmented. Gnathopod 2 attached medianly on pereonite 2, basis shorter than propodus, propodus oval shaped, without palmar projections; pereopods 3 + 4 six-segmented; pereopod 5 five-segmented, with the distal article elongate without dactylus shape, and with setae distally. Gills oval (pereonites 2, 3 + 4).
Thailand; Western Australia; Queensland; Korean Straits, Japan
Caprellid, “Ghost” or “Skeleton” shrimps, so called for their skeletal appearance. Amphipod crustaceans, easily distinguished by the elongate stick-like body form and reduction of the abdominal appendages. Head is generally fused with pereonite 1. Pereopods on first 2 segments (pereonites) are most flexible and called gnathopods; gnathopods 2 being the largest, used in defense, feeding and substrate attachment. In many species pereopods 3 and 4 may also be reduced or absent. Gills on pereonites 3 + 4, rarely on pereonite 2. Pereopods 5 - 7 much smaller than 1 + 2, used for clinging to the substratum. In females, brood plates (öostegites) develop on pereonites 3 + 4. Much remains to be learnt about their biology, ecology and in many cases changing distributions.
On filamentous algal turf and dead branching coral.
Australia Museum, Sydney: AM P62160
