This order of Peracarida, established only in 1985 (Bowman et al. 1985), apparently includes just a handful of species and most of them are poorly known. The best studied, Mictocaris halope, is pelagic (i.e., living in the water column) in marine caves. Although it has stalked eyes, it is not clear that they actually retain any visual function. Mictaceans are quite small, just 2 to 3.5 mm in length.
(Brusca and Brusca 2003)
- Bowman, T.E., S.P. Garner, R.R. Hessler, T.M. Iliffe, and H.L. Sanders. 1985. Mictacea, a New Order of Crustacea Peracarida. Journal of Crustacean Biology 5(1): 74-78.
- Brusca, R.C. and G.J. Brusca. 2003. Invertebrates, 2nd edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
