Showing posts tagged squat lobster
New genus of Squat Lobster, with 5 species, Described Feb. 15, 2013 On recent expeditions to Madagascar and the French Polynesia, two Spanish researchers have discovered five new species of crustacean and a new genus named Triodonthea. Experts from the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes and the University of Barcelona (UB) collected and studied different crustacean specimens during recent expeditions to Madagascar, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Philippines and French Polynesia. Using morphological and molecular data they have discovered five new species of crustaceans in the waters of these regions. They are genetically different but morphologically very similar and they also found a new genus, named Triodonthea. The five new species documented in the study belong to the Lauriea genus of the Galatheidae family, which is differentiated easily from other species of the group as it has very long setae and their legs end in a double spine… (read more: Science Daily)            (photo: Enrique MacPherson) View high resolution

New genus of Squat Lobster, with 5 species, Described

Feb. 15, 2013

On recent expeditions to Madagascar and the French Polynesia, two Spanish researchers have discovered five new species of crustacean and a new genus named Triodonthea.

Experts from the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes and the University of Barcelona (UB) collected and studied different crustacean specimens during recent expeditions to Madagascar, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Philippines and French Polynesia.

Using morphological and molecular data they have discovered five new species of crustaceans in the waters of these regions. They are genetically different but morphologically very similar and they also found a new genus, named Triodonthea. The five new species documented in the study belong to the Lauriea genus of the Galatheidae family, which is differentiated easily from other species of the group as it has very long setae and their legs end in a double spine…

(read more: Science Daily)            (photo: Enrique MacPherson)

clothesb4bros: “Lost World” of Odd Species Found Off Antarctica

by Dave Mosher

A camera-equipped submersible robot filmed species such as barnacles, yeti crabs, anemones, and even an octopus, all of which are mostly colorless and live in utter darkness at depths of 7,875 feet (2,400 meters), according to a new study.

About 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) east of the southern tip of South America, “this is a new province of deep-sea life, something like a new continent, and it’s a place we’ve been trying to [reach] for a long time,” said study co-author Jon Copley, a marine biologist at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

“It harbors some of the lushest abundance of life I have ever seen in the deep ocean,” he said.”

The species of Antarctica’s “lost world” were described this week (Jan. 4, 2012) in the journal PLoS Biology…

(read more: National Geo)

(Reblogged from photonasty)

Neopetrolisthes maculatus is a species of porcelain crab (family Porcellanidae) from the Indo-Pacific region. It is a small, colourful crustacean with a porcelain-like shell. This porcelain crab is usually found within the stinging tentacles of a number of sea anemone species

(via: Wikipedia)         (photos: T - Steve Childs, B - Nick Hobgood)

Galatheid crabs (“squat lobsters”) and a large shrimp feast opportunistically on a pelagic catch. The largest crab individuals were feeding directly on the catch, whereas the smaller crabs waited their turn to on the outskirts of the group. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV on a site referred to as ‘Zona Senja’ near Sulawesi, Indonesia, on August 2, 2010. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010 View high resolution

Galatheid crabs (“squat lobsters”) and a large shrimp feast opportunistically on a pelagic catch. The largest crab individuals were feeding directly on the catch, whereas the smaller crabs waited their turn to on the outskirts of the group. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV on a site referred to as ‘Zona Senja’ near Sulawesi, Indonesia, on August 2, 2010.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010

Deep Sea Ocean Floor Images from Remote Operated Vehicle dives during the NOAA Galapagos Rift Expedition, July 2011.

The top photo is of the summit of a 10+ meter extinct chimney on the sea floor, covered in many smaller chimlets that mark sites of former hydrothermal flow. Pictures of deep sea animals include: an 8 armed sea star, a squat lobster, closeup of an anemone, a benthic octopus, a yellow sponge on hardened lava flow, and gorgonian whip coral.

Courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.

Galatheid squat lobster with extremely enlarged pereiopods. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 600 meters depth on the Paramount seamounts on July 14, 2011, during the Galapágos Rift Expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program. View high resolution

Galatheid squat lobster with extremely enlarged pereiopods. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 600 meters depth on the Paramount seamounts on July 14, 2011, during the Galapágos Rift Expedition.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.

Galatheid squat lobster on an Anthomastus coral. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 600 meters depth on the Paramount seamounts on July 14, 2011, during the Galapágos Rift Expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program. View high resolution

Galatheid squat lobster on an Anthomastus coral. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 600 meters depth on the Paramount seamounts on July 14, 2011, during the Galapágos Rift Expedition.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.

A squat lobster observed in increased abundance in the vicinity of deep coral communities. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 250 meters depth on a site referred to as ‘Zona Senja’ on August 2, 2010. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010. View high resolution

A squat lobster observed in increased abundance in the vicinity of deep coral communities. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 250 meters depth on a site referred to as ‘Zona Senja’ on August 2, 2010.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010.

A squat lobster and sea spider live on the fringe of a barrel sponge. Image captured August 5, 2010 by the Little Hercules ROV at 700 meters depth on a new seamount mapped by Baruna Jaya IV during the INDEX SATAL 2010 Expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010 View high resolution

A squat lobster and sea spider live on the fringe of a barrel sponge. Image captured August 5, 2010 by the Little Hercules ROV at 700 meters depth on a new seamount mapped by Baruna Jaya IV during the INDEX SATAL 2010 Expedition.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010

What Happens to Wood That Falls Into the Deep Sea… It Gets Eaten.

by Dr. Martini, Deep Sea News

The digestion of a fibrous and solid food source requires talent, a hearty gut, and some help–traits not many species possess.  These organisms finish the tree off, tearing it apart from inside and out.  Bivalves of the genus Xylophaga (measuring less than an inch)use a ridged shell to bore into the wood, ingesting the wood fragments.  On their gills they host an endosymbiotic bacteria that can digest their woody snack.  What’s surprising given the rarity and uncertainty of that wooden treat along the deep-sea floor, is that nearly a dozen species make their life this way and half-dozen Xylophaga species can occur on a single log.

As Xylophaga consume their way through the heart of the wooden cadaver, the squat lobsters Munidopsis andamanica pick away at the barky skin.  These squat lobsters use their spoon shaped claws to tear pieces of the decayed wood off, using the depression in their claw to hand off to the feeding appendages well adapted to dealing with large food items.  With the aid of bacteria and stomach-like gastric mill lined in teeth, the dead wood starts its path to providing nutrition…

(read more: Deep Sea News)

(images: T - The Field Museum; ML -  Illustration from Voight (2007); MR - unattributed; B - unattributed)

The Squat Lobster, Gastroptychus spinifer, has a body that is about 1/2-inch wide and 1-inch long. Its eyes are quite large for such a small animal, and may be capable of seeing in the UV range of the elctro-magnetic spectrum. Image courtesy of Bioluminescence Team 2009, NOAA-OER (via: Live Science) View high resolution

The Squat Lobster, Gastroptychus spinifer, has a body that is about 1/2-inch wide and 1-inch long. Its eyes are quite large for such a small animal, and may be capable of seeing in the UV range of the elctro-magnetic spectrum.

Image courtesy of Bioluminescence Team 2009, NOAA-OER

(via: Live Science)

A squat lobster and small Black-belly Rosefish huddle near a den on a small ledge in Baltimore Canyon, in the Mid Atlantic.  Image courtesy of Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM. (via: NOAA Ocean Explorer) View high resolution

A squat lobster and small Black-belly Rosefish huddle near a den on a small ledge in Baltimore Canyon, in the Mid Atlantic. 

Image courtesy of Deepwater Canyons 2012 Expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM.

(via: NOAA Ocean Explorer)

Close-up view of a deep sea bamboo whip coral with its associate squat lobster. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010. (via: NOAA) View high resolution

Close-up view of a deep sea bamboo whip coral with its associate squat lobster.

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010.

(via: NOAA)

Recently Discovered Deep Sea:  Red Squat Lobster by Christine Dell’Amore Found between depths of 2,130 ft (650 m) and 4,600 ft (1,400 m), this squat lobster of the Uroptychus genus isn’t the first known specimen of its kind, but its species hasn’t yet been formally recognized. These deep-sea squat lobsters are almost exclusively found in association with deep-sea corals. In this case the animals were found attached to a bamboo coral. (via: National Geo)      (photo: NIWA) View high resolution

Recently Discovered Deep Sea:  Red Squat Lobster

by Christine Dell’Amore

Found between depths of 2,130 ft (650 m) and 4,600 ft (1,400 m), this squat lobster of the Uroptychus genus isn’t the first known specimen of its kind, but its species hasn’t yet been formally recognized.

These deep-sea squat lobsters are almost exclusively found in association with deep-sea corals. In this case the animals were found attached to a bamboo coral.

(via: National Geo)      (photo: NIWA)

Recently Discovered Deep Sea:  Blind Squat Lobster by Christine Dell’Amore The blind squat lobster Munidopsis victoriae is nearly always found near pieces of sunken wood at depths from 2,300 ft (700 m) to 4,000 ft (1,200 m). The species has a spine of unknown function that sticks out from the middle of each eye. (via: National Geo)      (photo: NIWA) View high resolution

Recently Discovered Deep Sea:  Blind Squat Lobster

by Christine Dell’Amore

The blind squat lobster Munidopsis victoriae is nearly always found near pieces of sunken wood at depths from 2,300 ft (700 m) to 4,000 ft (1,200 m). The species has a spine of unknown function that sticks out from the middle of each eye.

(via: National Geo)      (photo: NIWA)