A survey of Mysida from the Lizard Island area, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Subfamily Siriellinae (Crustacea, Mysida, Mysidae)
Author
Talbot, Suzette
text
Zootaxa
2009
2114
1
49
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.187927
49e53994-79a6-4cb7-a5b0-75712484894c
1175-5326
187927
Mysidae Haworth, 1825
Members of the
Mysidae
are differentiated from other small shrimp-like crustaceans by examination of the tail fan. At the base of their uropodal endopods is a pair of clearly visible statocysts, each consisting of a translucent vesicle containing a dense, rounded or oval statolith. These conspicuous uropodal statocysts are a distinctive feature of the family.
Mysid females carry their developing young in a brood pouch or marsupium, made up of overlapping petal-like plates that project ventrally from the coxae of the posterior thoracic legs. They have 8 pairs of biramous thoracic limbs, but none of them are chelate. Mysids also lack gills, gas exchange taking place through the thin membranous inner lining of the well-developed carapace, which is not attached to the last 4 thoracic segments.