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Amphipoda (amphipods, also sometimes known as scud) are an order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 of animals that includes over 7,000 described species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of shrimp
Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, Decapoda crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh water and seawater. Adult shrimp are Filter feeder benthic animals living close to the bottom....
-like crustacean
Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s ranging from 1 mm to 140 mm in length.

Most amphipods are marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
; although a small number of species are limnic
Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve....
 or terrestrial
Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land, as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats ....
. Marine amphipods may be pelagic (living in the water column) or benthic (living on the ocean bottom). Pelagic amphipods are eaten by seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s, fish, and marine mammals.






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Amphipoda (amphipods, also sometimes known as scud) are an order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 of animals that includes over 7,000 described species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of shrimp
Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, Decapoda crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh water and seawater. Adult shrimp are Filter feeder benthic animals living close to the bottom....
-like crustacean
Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s ranging from 1 mm to 140 mm in length.

Most amphipods are marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
; although a small number of species are limnic
Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve....
 or terrestrial
Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land, as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats ....
. Marine amphipods may be pelagic (living in the water column) or benthic (living on the ocean bottom). Pelagic amphipods are eaten by seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s, fish, and marine mammals. Terrestrial amphipods such as sand fleas can often be seen amongst sand and pebbles or on beaches.

Distribution and life

Many species of pelagic amphipods are mutualistic
Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
 or (usually) parasitic
Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of Symbiosis relationship between two different organisms where one organism, the parasite, takes from the host , sometimes for a prolonged time....
, living in association with jellyfish
Jellyfish

Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the Scyphozoa , Staurozoa , Cubozoa , and Hydrozoa ....
 and salp
Salp

A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. The salp strains the pumped water through its internal feeding filters, feeding on phytoplankton that it sieves out of the water....
s. Phronima
Phronima

Phronima, the pram bug amphipod, is a small, translucent deep sea hyperiid amphipod of the family Phronimidae. It resembles a shrimp with a head, eyes, jaws and clawed arms....
 is a relatively common genus of pelagic amphipod that kills and cleans out the barrel-shaped body of a salp
Salp

A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. The salp strains the pumped water through its internal feeding filters, feeding on phytoplankton that it sieves out of the water....
 to live inside and raise its young.

Of the relatively few species of free-living, plankton
Plankton

Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
ic amphipods, the most abundant of all is Themisto gaudichaudii
Themisto gaudichaudii

Themisto gaudichaudii is an amphipod of the suborder Hyperiidea. The 260 species of hyperiid amphipods are large-eyed and planktonic amphipods, whereas gammarid amphipods have smaller eyes and tend to live on the sea floor....
. Living in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean south of 60th parallel south latitude....
, this amphipod congregates in dense swarms, where it is a voracious predator of copepod
Copepod

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every fresh water habitat . Many species are planktonic , but more are benthos , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds and puddle...
s and other small members of the zooplankton
Zooplankton

Zooplankton are the heterotrophic type of plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in the Pelagic zone of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water....
.

After copepod
Copepod

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every fresh water habitat . Many species are planktonic , but more are benthos , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds and puddle...
s, krill
Krill

Krill are a type of shrimp-like marine invertebrate animal. These small crustaceans are important organisms of the zooplankton, particularly as food for baleen whales, manta rays, whale sharks, crabeater seals, and other pinniped, and a few seabird species that feed almost exclusively on them....
 and salp
Salp

A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate. It moves by contracting, thus pumping water through its gelatinous body. The salp strains the pumped water through its internal feeding filters, feeding on phytoplankton that it sieves out of the water....
s, which are mostly herbivorous, the carnivorous Themisto is the most abundant member of the mesozooplankton in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean south of 60th parallel south latitude....
.

In cold seas, benthic amphipods are enormously diverse and abundant. In the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean south of 60th parallel south latitude....
, amphipods are the most abundant benthic crustaceans. Some are grazers, many are omnivorous, some even act as piranha
Piranha

A piranha or pira?a is a member of a family of omnivorous freshwater fish which live in South American rivers. In Venezuelan rivers they are called caribes....
-like scavengers, quickly cleaning the carcasses of dead tissue. Amphipods are one of the few animal groups frequently seen when submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
s venture to the deepest parts of the oceans. Other benthic amphipods are the primary food of Gray Whale
Gray Whale

The Gray Whale is a whale that travels between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about 16 meters , a weight of 36 tons and an age of 50–60 years....
s. Certain species of pelagic amphipods make vertical migrations diurnally.

A ship hull fouling species of amphipod common to Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 and estuarine waters is Jassa falcata
Jassa falcata

Jassa falcata, commonly known as scud, is a tube-dwelling Amphipoda in the genus Jassa.Jassa falcata is one of the thousands of species of amphipod....
.

External links

  • Britannica (2008)
  • includes a list of families
  • on the UF
    University of Florida

    The University of Florida is a Public university land-grant university, sea grant colleges, Space grant colleges major research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States....
     / IFAS
    Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

    The University of Florida?s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information accessible....
     Featured Creatures Web site
  • All about the amphipod genus Niphargus
    Niphargus

    Niphargus is a genus of crustacean in family Niphargidae. It contains the following species:*Niphargus aberrans Sket, 1972...