Tag: shrimps

In a hole in a tunicate there lived a hobbit: New shrimp species named after Bilbo Baggins

Two new species of tiny symbiotic shrimps are described, illustrated and named by biology student at Leiden University Werner de Gier as part of his bachelor’s research project, supervised by Dr. Charles H. J. M. Fransen, shrimp researcher of Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, the Netherlands).

Inspired by the extremely hairy feet of one of the species, the authors decided that they should honour Middle Earth’s greatest halfling, Bilbo Baggins.

Aptly named Odontonia bagginsi, the new shrimp joins the lines of other species named after Tolkien’s characters such as the cave-dwelling harvestman Iandumoema smeagol, the golden lizard Liolaemus smaug and the two subterranean spiders Ochyrocera laracna and Ochyrocera ungoliant.

The newly described shrimps were collected during the Ternate expedition to the Indonesian islands of Tidore and Ternate, organised by Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2009.

Typically for the Odontonia species, the new shrimps do not reach sizes above a centimetre in length, and were found inside tunicates. It is believed that these symbiotic crustaceans are fully adapted to live inside the cavities of their hosts, which explains their small-sized and smooth bodies.

Unlike most Odontonia species, which live inside solitary tunicates, the new species Odontonia plurellicola was the first one to be associated with a colonial tunicate. These tunicates have even smaller internal cavities, which explains the tiny size of the new species.

To determine the placement of the new species in the tree of life, the scientists compared the shrimps’ anatomical features, including the legs, mouthparts and carapace. As a result, they were assigned to Odontonia. Further, the available genetic information and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the unusual feet of the newly discovered shrimp provided a new updated identification key for all members of the species group.

“Being able to describe, draw and even name two new species in my bachelor years was a huge honour. Hopefully, we can show the world that there are many new species just waiting to be discovered, if you simply look close enough!” says Werner de Gier, who is currently writing his graduate thesis at Naturalis Biodiversity Center and working together with Dr. Charles Fransen on crustaceans.

###

Original source:

de Gier W, Fransen CHJM (2018) Odontonia plurellicola sp. n. and Odontonia bagginsi sp. n., two new ascidian-associated shrimp from Ternate and Tidore, Indonesia, with a phylogenetic reconstruction of the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palaemonidae). ZooKeys 765: 123-160. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.765.25277

Dig it! Two new shrimp species found in burrows at the bottom of the Gulf of California

Although the Santa María-La Reforma lagoon complex in the Gulf of California is one of the most important areas for shrimp fishery, little is known about the crustacean species that live in the burrows dug in the bottom.

In addition to presenting two species new to science, researchers Drs. José Salgado-Barragán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Manuel Ayón-Parente and Pilar Zamora-Tavares, both affiliated with Universidad de Guadalajara, México collaborated to build on the knowledge of small shrimp species living there. The study is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Over the span of about two years – between 2013 and 2015, the scientists conducted series of surveys of the bottom-dwelling crustaceans in Bahía Santa María-La Reforma lagoon, located in the southwest Gulf of California. Following a thorough examination of the collected specimens, they recorded five shrimp species of three genera, inhabiting burrows dug into either mud, sand, or sandy-mud. Two of these species turned out to be previously unknown.

One of the new species is named Alpheus margaritae after Dr. Margarita Hermoso-Salazar, a caridean shrimp expert who helped the authors with the identification of the species. This new crustacean lives in the intertidal zone, where it hides in soft mud and gravel of shells and rocks. So far, it is known exclusively from the coastal lagoon Bahía Santa María-La Reforma, Sinaloa, Mexico. Among its characteristic traits are creamy-white colouration splashed with sparse olive green to light brown patches.

The second new species, Leptalpheus melendezensis, is reported to live in the fine sand of the beach. It is named after the Melendez island – the only locality the species has been identified from. Unlike the rest seven members of its genus (Leptalpheus), its major cheliped lacks adhesive disks.

###

Original source:

Salgado-Barragán J, Ayón-Parente M, Zamora-Tavares P (2017) New records and description of two new species of carideans shrimps from Bahía Santa María-La Reforma lagoon, Gulf of California, Mexico (Crustacea, Caridea, Alpheidae and Processidae). ZooKeys 671: 131-153. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.671.9081

First of a kind footage of a living stylodactylid shrimp filter-feeding at depth of 4826 m

Depths such as those at the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument are an extreme challenge for explorers, providing scarce information about their inhabitants, let alone their behavior.

While most of them are known from dead specimens gathered by trawls, a team of scientists, led by Dr. Mary Wicksten, Texas A&M University, USA, have recently retrieved footage of a living shrimp from the seafloor at a striking depth of 4826 m. The video presumably shows a species, previously known from a single broken specimen from the Coral Sea, while filter-feeding. The observation is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

With the help of the remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer, part of the equipment the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have used in the “2016 Exploration of the Marianas” expedition, the researchers have obtained the first footage of a living deep-sea benthic shrimp of the Stylodactylidae family. In fact, the video was of such high-quality that the scientists believe they have recognised the shrimp at a species level (Bathystylodactylus bathyalis). This is also the deepest record for this group of shrimps.

Navigating through the seafloor, mostly thickly sedimented with clay-like particles easily disturbed into clouds, the Deep Discoverer spent nearly five hours traversing the bottom, letting the scientists at the shore observe depths ranging from 4840 to 4787 meters. When it reached 4826 m, it approached a tiny shrimp measuring about 120 mm in length.

As soon as they noticed it, the researchers moved the vehicle so that it could face the shrimp and take some detailed shots. At first, the crustacean was seen to stay immobile facing the current for a few minutes, before raising to its back legs and beginning to use the front ones to form what seems to be a “filter basket” that captures particles. Curiously, while such passive feeding behavior is known from some crabs, it has not been observed within any group of carideans, the shrimp infraorder where the studied species belongs.

NOAA’s ship Okeanos Explorer, administered through the Office of Exploration and Research and used in the deep-water expedition, is equipped with the remotely-operated vehicle Deep Discoverer and a camera sled. It relies on two maneuverable and four fixed video cameras, as well as 26 LED lamps. High-speed communication capabilities enable scientists to participate in ship operations via telepresence. Thanks to this technology, anyone with Internet access is able to observe live video feeds from and participate in real time via a private chat room and satellite teleconference line.

Okeanos Explorer is to be employed once again in 2017 to continue its explorative mission focused on deepwater areas of U.S. marine protected areas in the central and western Pacific.

###

Original source:

Wicksten M, De Grave S, France S, Kelley C (2017) Presumed filter-feeding in a deep-sea benthic shrimp (Decapoda, Caridea, Stylodactylidae), with records of the deepest occurrence of carideans. ZooKeys 646: 17-23. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.646.10969