Meganyctiphanes norvegica
| Meganyctiphanes norvegica | ||||||||||||
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Meganyctiphanes norvegica |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Meganyctiphanes | ||||||||||||
| Holt and Tattersall , 1905 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Meganyctiphanes norvegica | ||||||||||||
| ( M. Sars , 1857) |
Meganyctiphanes norvegica is aspecies of luminous shrimp foundin the North Atlantic and Mediterranean . It is the only species of the genus Meganyctiphanes and formsan important prey animal for whales , fish and birds as krill in the plankton .
features
Meganyctiphanes norvegica can grow up to 45 mm long and is transparent to yellowish in color. Females may have a blue tinge before spawning. The “stomach” shimmers red through the transparent skin. This is an indication that Meganyctiphanes norvegica feeds predominantly on copepods (Copepoda). In the Southern Ocean , the Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) fulfills a similar role.
The round eyes of Meganyctiphanes norvegica are of medium size, the ratio of eye diameter to carapace length is 0.19. The first segment of the stem of the first antennae has a rearwardly directed appendage that is characteristic of this species. The second segment has a forward-facing stinger, as does the third, but the stinger is smaller. The carapace has no rostrum and is slightly bent down at the front. There is a distinct sting behind each eye. There is a small tooth on the flanks of the carapace. The abdomen has no spines on the back or other abnormalities.
The eighth pair of limbs of the thorax is only rudimentary, the seventh is clearly developed, although the endopodit consists of only two elongated segments. The photophores are red and each lie individually between the pleopods .
Life cycle
In spring, the females spawn between 350 and 550 eggs from which about 0.5 mm large nauplii hatch. The larvae develop through the stages Metanauplis, Calyptopsis and Furcilia to 8 to 13 mm long juveniles and reach sexual maturity at the age of one year and a body length of 22 mm. Meganyctiphanes norvegica can live to be three years.
Habitat and Distribution
Meganyctiphanes norvegica is distributed in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It lives west of Greenland in the north, to about Cape Hatteras in the south, at about 34 ° N on the Atlantic coast of the USA. It can be found both in the Bay of Fundy and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . The distribution extends into the Barents Sea and to North Africa. In the Kattegat and in the Baltic Sea it is not common.
Reproductive centers are the Gulf of Maine , the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the waters south of Iceland and the Arctic Ocean down to 70 ° N. During the day, the animals stay at a depth of 100 to 500 meters and perform daily vertical migrations to at night Go foraging near the surface. They form huge schools that attract fin whales and others and are prey of whales, seals, fish, octopus, decapods and birds, especially in the coastal regions. Meganyctiphanes norvegica eats zooplankton and also algae.
literature
- Wilfried Westheide, Reinhard Rieger (Hrsg.): Special zoology. Part 1: unicellular organisms and invertebrates. corr. u. additional reprint d. 1st edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-8274-1482-2
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Alexei Pinchuk, Russ Hopcroft: Meganyctiphanes norvegica (M. Sars, 1857). Arctic Ocean Biodiversity - Census of marine life, September 3, 2010, accessed May 10, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c Meganyctiphanes norvegica. In: Euphausiids of the World Ocean. Marine Species Identification Portal, accessed May 10, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c d M.J. de Kluijver, SS Ingalsuo: Meganyctiphanes norvegica. (No longer available online.) In: Macrobenthos of the North Sea. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013 ; Retrieved May 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
