Urothoe is a 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...

 of very small marine amphipod

Amphipoda

Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. The name amphipoda means "different-footed", and refers to the different forms of appendages, unlike isopods, where all the legs are alike. Of the 7,000 species, 5,500 are classified...

 crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Urothoidae

Urothoidae

Urothoidae is a family of small marine amphipod crustaceans. Members of the family are found worldwide and are mainly detrivores and interface grazers, though some are also facultative filter feeders.-Genera:*Carangolia J.L...

. Members of the genus are found worldwide.

Biology

Urothods are 5–8 mm (0.196850393700787–0.31496062992126 ) long and live on the sea bed or in shallow burrow

Burrow

A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...

s in gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

ly substrates or muddy sand. They can swim for short distances. They are vulnerable to dredging but are able to recover afterwards and re-establish their burrows. They are deposit feeders  and also selectively scrape microorganism

Microorganism

A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...

s from grains of sand.

Reproduction

Urothoe reaches sexual maturity

Sexual maturity

Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...

 at five months and may live for about a year. The sexes are distinct and breeding takes place in the summer months. Fertilisation is internal and there are about fifteen eggs

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 per brood, produced in a cycle of about fifteen days. Fecundity

Fecundity

Fecundity, derived from the word fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population. In biology, the definition is more equivalent to fertility, or the actual reproductive rate of an organism or...

 is high and the juveniles

Juvenile (organism)

A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...

 grow fast but biological dispersal

Biological dispersal

Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...

 is very limited.

Species

Urothoe contains the following species:

• Urothoe atlantica Bellan-Santini & Menioui, 2004
• Urothoe bairdii Bate, 1862
• Urothoe brevicornis Bate, 1862
• Urothoe carda Imbach, 1969
• Urothoe chosani Hirayama, 1992
• Urothoe convexa Kim & Kim, 1991
• Urothoe corsica Bellan-Santini, 1965
• Urothoe coxalis Griffiths, 1974
• Urothoe cuspis Imbach, 1969
• Urothoe dentata Schellenberg, 1925
• Urothoe denticulata Gurjanova, 1951
• Urothoe elegans (Bate, 1857)
• Urothoe elizae Cooper & Fincham, 1974
• Urothoe falcata Schellenberg, 1931
• Urothoe femoralis K. H. Barnard, 1955
• Urothoe gelasina Imbach, 1969
• Urothoe grimaldii Chevreux, 1895
• Urothoe hesperiae Conradi, Lopez-Gonzalez & Bellan-Santini, 1997
• Urothoe intermedia Bellan-Santini & Ruffo, 1986
• Urothoe irrostratus Dana, 1852
• Urothoe latifrons Ren, 1991
• Urothoe marina
  Urothoe marina
  Urothoe marina is a species of small marine amphipod crustaceans in the family Urothoidae. It is found on and burrowing in coarse sediments in shallow coastal waters off northwestern Europe.-Description:...
  
  (Bate, 1857)
• Urothoe marionis Bellan-Santini & Ledoyer, 1987
• Urothoe oniscoides (K. H. Barnard, 1932)
• Urothoe orientalis Gurjanova, 1938
• Urothoe pestai Spandl, 1923
• Urothoe pinnata K. H. Barnard, 1955
• Urothoe platydactyla Rabindranath, 1971
• Urothoe platypoda Griffiths, 1974
• Urothoe poseidonis Reibish, 1905
• Urothoe poucheti Chevreux, 1888
• Urothoe pulchella (Costa, 1853)
• Urothoe rotundifrons J. L. Barnard, 1962
• Urothoe ruber Giles, 1888
• Urothoe serrulidactylus K. H Barnard, 1955
• Urothoe spinidigitata Walker, 1904
• Urothoe tumorosa Griffiths, 1974
• Urothoe varvarini Gurjanova, 1953
• Urothoe vemae J.L. Barnard, 1962
• Urothoe viswanathi Asari, 1998
• Urothoe wellingtonensis Cooper, 1974