Iphinoe trispinosa is a species of cumacea

Cumacea

Cumacea is an order of small marine crustaceans, occasionally called hooded shrimp. Their unique appearance and uniform body plan makes them easy to distinguish from other crustaceans.-Anatomy:...

n belonging to the family Bodotriidae

Bodotriidae

Bodotriidae is a family of crustaceans belonging to the order Cumacea.-Anatomy:In both sexes the telson is fused with the last segment of the pleon, forming a "pleotelson". Males generally have five pairs of pleopods, although less often there may be three, two or they may be entirely absent. In...

 and the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Iphinoe

Iphinoe

Iphinoe is a genus of crustaceans which belong to the family Bodotriidae. It includes the following species:*Iphinoe acutirostris Ledoyer, 1965*Iphinoe adriatica Băcescu, 1988*Iphinoe africana Zimmer, 1908*Iphinoe armata Ledoyer, 1965...

.

Anatomy

I. trispinosa is a slender cumacean which grows up to 10 mm long. The carapace

Carapace

A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...

 is approximately twice as long as it is high, and in the male, which has a rounded pseudorostrum, rather smooth. The female has two to six small serrations in the middle of the dorsal ridge of the carapace, and a sharply leading pseudorostrum.

Both males and females are strongly pigmented. The male has — like all members of the family Bodotriidae — five pairs of pleopods. Their colour is whitish to straw-coloured.

Habitat

I. trispinosa are usually found in fine sand beaches, such as those formed by silt deposits. They prefer shallower depths, but may be found as deep as 150 m. During summer nights the males emerge from sand, swarming to the surface, frequently attracted by light. They are found from Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 to the Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 coast, around the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

 and in the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

.

Further reading

• Hayward, P.J. & Ryland, J.S., (1991). Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: Introduction and Protozoans to Arthropods, ISBN 0198573561.
• Jones, N.S., (1976). British Cumaceans. Synopses of the British fauna (New Series), No. 7. The Linnean Society/Academic Press, London.
• Sars, G.O., (1900). An account of the Crustacea of Norway. Vol. III. Cumacea. Bergen Museum, Bergen.

External links

• Iphinoe trispinosa on the Cumacea World Database.
• Iphinoe trispinosa on the World Biodiversity Database.