Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371
Author
Wicksten, Mary K.
text
Zootaxa
2012
2012-07-04
3371
1
307
journal article
11755334
Family
Oplophoridae Dana, 1852
Most oplophorids are pelagic, often with a thin carapace and bright orange to red color. The toothed rostrum varies from short to long. The carapace may bear teeth and carinae. Some species also have teeth on the dorsal midline of the abdominal somites. Eyes may be pigmented or not. Pereopods 1, 2 are chelate and shorter than pereopods 3–5. The maxillipeds and pereopods bear exopods.
Little is known about most oplophorids of the area of coverage.
Systellaspis debilis
(
Milne-Edwards, 1881
)
produces a luminous cloud. Other species have photophores (light-producing cells). Traps being brought up to the surface have captured oplophorids, suggesting that they were scavenging on the bait. Species of
Notostomus
and
Systellaspis
may feed on pelagic cnidarians such as jellyfishes of the genus
Atolla
(
Moore
et al
. 1993
)
.
Many oplophorid species are thought to be nearly cosmopolitan or at least in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The key given here is based on the work by
Chace (1986)
, which provides additional descriptive information, especially of Indo-West Pacific species.
Ebeling
et al
. (1969: 12) reported
Notostomus elegans
A.
Milne-Edwards, 1881
(as
N
.
patentissimus
Bate, 1888
) from the
San Pedro
Basin, California, but this is believed to be an Indo-West Pacific species (
Crosnier & Forest 1973
).