Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Marine amphipod crustacean (Polynesoecetes kekeae). This marine amphipod normally inhabits marine shell
Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Marine amphipod crustacean (Polynesoecetes kekeae). This marine amphipod normally inhabits marine shells in the gastropod families Cerithidae and Dialidae. The amphipod extends the entrance to the shell by gluing together sand grains in the form of a tube. The glue, called amphipod silk is secreted by glands on the 3rd and 4th legs. The bases of legs three to five possess large spines that are used to help the amphipod grip the inside of the shell. The thorax bears eight pairs of uniramous appendages and the abdomen is divided in to two parts, the pleosome which bears swimming legs; and the urosome which has a telson and three pairs of uropods. Living in the shell with the amphipod is an unknown symbiont species of copepod, sometimes also with two juvenile copepods. Magnification x29 when shortest axis printed at 25 millimetres.
Size: 2613px × 3483px
Photo credit: © DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 212568i, amphipod, appendage, appendages, arthropod, arthropoda, arthropods, cerithidae, colored, coloured, crustacea, crustacean, crustaceans, dialidae, electron, false-colored, false-coloured, hawaiian, invertebrate, invertebrates, kekeae, leg, legs, malacostraca, malacostracan, marine, micrograph, pacific, plankton, pleosome, polynesoecetes, salt, saltwater, scanning, sea, seashell, seashells, seawater, sem, shell, shells, silk, swimming, telson, thoracic, thorax, uniramous, uropods, urosome, water, zooplankton
