Mysis salemaai is a shrimp-like crustacean in the Mysida order, inhabiting lakes of Ireland and South Scandinavia and brackish waters of the northern Baltic Sea.
| Mysis salemaai | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Mysida |
| Family: | Mysidae |
| Genus: | Mysis |
| Species: | M. salemaai
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| Binomial name | |
| Mysis salemaai Audzijonytė & Väinölä, 2005
| |
Appearance
editMysis salemaai is a transparent shrimp-like crustacean, of less than 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) length. It has two pairs of relatively long antennae, associated with rounded antennal plates; large, stalked compound eyes; the thorax covered by a coat-like carapace; a muscular, cylindrical abdomen; and a tail fan featuring a telson with a V-shaped terminal cleft. Reproducing females bear a prominent brood pouch (marsupium) between their legs. Mysis are often called opossum shrimp.
Distribution
editMysis salemaai is a North European species which lives both in fresh and brackish waters. It is found in ten lakes on the island of Ireland, including Lough Neagh, Lough Erne, Lough Corrib and Lough Ree.[1] It is also found in several lakes of Southern Scandinavia, including Fureso in Denmark and the large lakes Vänern and Vättern in Sweden, and also in the Republic of Karelia.[2] Mysis salemaai is also common in the Baltic Sea, where it lives in offshore waters of the diluted northern parts of the basin.[2]
Previously M. salemaai was confused with Mysis relicta, which is a morphologically similar sibling species. The distributions of the two species overlap in the Baltic Sea and some lakes of Sweden, but M. relicta is not found in Ireland.[2][1]
Habitat
editM. salemaai is a benthopelagic species, which in the nighttime performs vertical migration towards the surface.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Marcin Penk (2011). "A review of the current distribution of the freshwater opossum shrimp Mysis salemaai Audzijonyte and Väinölä, 2005 in Ireland". Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 111B (2): 1–9. doi:10.3318/BIOE.2011.09. S2CID 129482357.
- ^ a b c Asta Audzijonytė & Risto Väinölä (2005). "Diversity and distributions of circumpolar fresh- and brackish-water Mysis (Crustacea: Mysida): descriptions of M. relicta Lovén, 1862, M. salemaai n.sp., M. segerstralei n.sp. and M. diluviana n.sp., based on molecular and morphological characters". Hydrobiologia. 544 (1): 89–141. doi:10.1007/s10750-004-8337-7. S2CID 20925048.