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Friday, 2 June 2017

Tube-building Amphipod


Hmmmm...

Looks like someone's got a leaky head. There're nightmares all over the place.



Look! There's a whole pile of them! They look like something mummy snails and daddy snails use to threaten their children: "Tidy your shell or the bogeysnail will get you!"

What they really are, are amphipods. And they're quite closely related to my very own beloved Skeleton Shrimp.

Image: Biodiversity Heritage Library
Like Skeleton Shrimp they have two pairs of large antennae and one pair of big claws. Unlike the Skellies, you seldom see those big claws because they're usually hidden away in their tube-home. It looks like they catch tiny crumbs of food with their enormous, hairy antennae.

And I'm not saying they use those massive claws to snatch naughty snails, crack open their shells and gobble them all up, I'm just saying that young snails are lazy enough as it is.
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6 comments:

  1. Lear's Fool5 June 2017 at 15:57

    Those guys are a riot!

    When I watched the video I was thinking 'those guys are as bad as skeleton shrimp', but they're even funnier!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joseph JG2 July 2017 at 15:11

    Yup, they're pretty wild!

    ReplyDelete
  3. John Meszaros11 August 2017 at 06:29

    So THAT's where Pepperidge Farms gets their Pirouettes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joseph JG12 August 2017 at 14:57

    We can all learn so much from nature!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cree8ing4good3 December 2017 at 11:55

    Alison Dibble said: Thank you for posting this! I found what I identified as Jassa falcata, a tube-making amphipod, on the coast of Maine, USA. Your post, especially the video helps reveal some of their interesting behaviors. Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Joseph JG20 December 2017 at 16:55

    So glad I could help!

    ReplyDelete