Length: 4-12 mm. Head with single spine; pereonite 3 with small lateral projection on either side; pereonites 6 + 7 with one pair dorsal tubercles each. Antenna 2 about 1/2 length of antenna 1, with swimming setae. Gnathopod 1 palm setose. Gnathopod 2 inserted distally; propodus palm with median poison tooth and 2 u-shaped grooves distally. Oval gills on pereonites 3 + 4. Pereopods 5-7 propodus with grasping spines.
Cape Verde Islands
Dedicated to Dr Peter Wirtz.
Caprellid, "Ghost" or "Skeleton" shrimps, so called for their skeletal appearance. Amphipod crustaceans, easily distinguished by the elongate stick-like body form and reduction of the abdominal appendages. Head is generally fused with pereonite 1. Pereopods on first 2 segments (pereonites) are most flexible and called gnathopods; gnathopods 2 being the largest, used in defense, feeding and substrate attachment. In many species pereopods 3 and 4 may also be reduced or absent. Gills on pereonites 3 + 4, rarely on pereonite 2. Pereopods 5 - 7 much smaller than 1 + 2, used for clinging to the substratum. In females, brood plates (öostegites) develop on pereonites 3 + 4. Much remains to be learnt about their biology, ecology and in many cases changing distributions.
Attached to Hydroids
Similar to Caprella liparotensis Haller, 1879. See Krapp Schikel & Takeuchi for description of differences between the two species.
