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Information about Amphipod

Amphipoda
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A hyperiid amphipod (Hyperia macrocephala)

A hyperiid amphipod (Hyperia macrocephala)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Subphylum:Crustacea
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Amphipoda
Latreille, 1816
Sub-orders


Gammaridea
Corophiidea
Hyperiidea
Ingolfiellidea
Amphipoda (amphipods) is an order of animals that includes over 7000 described species of small, shrimp-like crustaceans.

Most amphipods are marine; although a small number of species are limnic or terrestrial. Marine amphipods may be pelagic (living in the water column) or benthic (living on the ocean bottom). Pelagic amphipods are eaten by seabirds, fish, and marine mammals. Terrestrial amphipods such as sand fleas can often be seen amongst sand and pebbles or on beaches.

Distribution and life

Many species of pelagic amphipods are mutualistic or (usually) parasitic, living in association with jellyfish and salps. Phronima is a relatively common genus of pelagic amphipod that kills and cleans out the barrel-shaped body of a salp to live inside and raise its young.



Of the relatively few species of free-living, planktonic amphipods, the most abundant of all is Themisto gaudichaudii. Living in the Southern Ocean, this amphipod congregates in dense swarms, where it is a voracious predator of copepods and other small members of the zooplankton.

After copepods, krill and salps, which are mostly herbivorous, the carnivorous Themisto is the most abundant member of the mesozooplankton in the Southern Ocean.

In cold seas, benthic amphipods are enormously diverse and abundant. In the Southern Ocean, amphipods are the most abundant benthic crustaceans. Some are grazers, many are omnivorous, some even act as piranha-like scavengers, quickly cleaning the carcasses of dead animals. Amphipods are one of the few animal groups frequently seen when submarines venture to the deepest parts of the oceans. Other benthic amphipods are the primary food of Gray Whales.

A ship hull fouling species of amphipod common to Atlantic and estuarine waters is Jassa falcata.

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A gammarid amphipod

A hyperiid amphipod

A corophiid amphipod
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829

Subphyla and Classes
  • Subphylum Trilobitomorpha
  • Trilobita - trilobites (extinct)
  • Subphylum Chelicerata

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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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Malacostraca
Latreille, 1802

Subclasses

Eumalacostraca
Hoplocarida
Phyllocarida
See text for orders.

The Malacostraca (Greek: "soft shell") are the largest subgroup of crustaceans and include most of the animals that non-experts
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Pierre André Latreille (November 20, 1762 - February 6, 1833) was a French entomologist. His works describing insects assigned many of the insect taxa still in use today.
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order (Latin: ordo, plural ordines) is a rank between class and family (termed a taxon at that rank). The superorder is a rank between class and order. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Gammaridea
Latreille, 1802

Families

Many, see text
Gammaridea is a suborder of small, shrimp-like crustaceans. It contains about 5,700 of the 7,000 described species of amphipods, in approximately 1,000 genera, divided between around 125
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Corophiidea
Leach, 1814

Infraorders
  • Caprellida - skeleton shrimp and whale lice
  • Corophiida


Corophiidea is a suborder of amphipods.
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Hyperiidea
Milne-Edwards, 1830

Families
See text

Hyperiidea is a suborder of amphipods, small aquatic crustaceans. Unlike the other suborders of Amphipoda, hyperiids are exclusively marine and do not occur in freshwater.
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Ingolfiellidea
Hansen, 1903

Families

See text.

Ingolfiellidea is a small suborder of amphipods with only two families.

Families

Ingolfiellidae
Metaingolfiellidae

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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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The SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe) is a large-diameter, double focusing secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS). The SHRIMP is primarily used for geological and geochemical applications.
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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine geology. As a noun it can be a term for a certain kind of navy, or those enlisted in such a navy.
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Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve.
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Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land, as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water (e.g., fish, lobsters, octopuses), or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats (e.g.
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The pelagic zone is the part of the open sea or ocean that is not near the coast. In contrast, the neritic zone comprises the water that is near to (and is significantly affected by) the coast or the continental shelf.
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benthic zone is the lowest level of a body of water, such as an ocean or a lake. It is inhabited by organisms that live in close relationship with (if not physically attached to) the ground, called benthos or benthic organisms.
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Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar
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Sand flea may refer to:
  • Talitridae
  • Sandfly
  • Mole crab

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Mutualism is a biological interaction between individuals of two different species, where both individuals derive a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship. Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation.
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Parasitism is one version of symbiosis ("living together"), a phenomenon in which two organisms which are phylogenetically unrelated co-exist over a prolonged period of time, usually the lifetime of one of the individuals.
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Scyphozoa
Goette, 1887

Orders

Stauromedusae
Coronatae
Semaeostomeae
Rhizostomae
Jellyfish are marine invertebrates belonging to the Class Scyphozoa within the Phylum Cnidaria. They can be found in every ocean in the world.
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Salpida

Family: Salpidae

A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. The salp strains the pumped water and feeds on phytoplankton.
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Phronima
Latreille, 1802

Species

P. atlantica
P. bowmani
P. colletti
P. curvipes
P. dunbari
P. pacifica
P. sedentaria
P. solitaria
P.
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Salpida

Family: Salpidae

A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. The salp strains the pumped water and feeds on phytoplankton.
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Plankton are any drifting organism that inhabits the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. It is a description of life-style rather than a genetic classification.
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T. gaudichaudii

Binomial name
Themisto gaudichaudii
Guérin-Méneville, 1825

Themisto gaudichaudii is an amphipod of the suborder Hyperiidea.
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean
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