Published October 10, 2004
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Description and ecology of a spongicolous lysianassoid amphipod (Crustacea) from Antarctica
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Lörz, Anne-Nina, De Broyer, Claude (2004): Description and ecology of a spongicolous lysianassoid amphipod (Crustacea) from Antarctica. Journal of Natural History 38 (7): 889-899, DOI: 10.1080/0022293021000046513, URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0022293021000046513
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- urn:lsid:plazi.org:pub:FF839E72FFC2FFF9FFBCFFE2FF968A28
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- http://publication.plazi.org/id/FF839E72FFC2FFF9FFBCFFE2FF968A28
References
- are endemic to the Antarctic region, south of the Polar Front. Among the Antarctic lysianassoids few species are considered associated with sponges such as Abyssorchomene rossi ( Walker, 1903), Uristes gigas Dana, 1849 and Waldeckia obesa (Chevreux, 1905) (Dauby et al., 2001).
- Lysianassoid amphipods are well known as dominant scavengers in cold-water seas. Stomach content analysis did not allow unambiguous characterization of the feeding regime of Pseudokoroga spongiophila, but indicated that it could be an opportunistic and suspension feeder (see the trophic types defined by Dauby et al., 2001). Most likely Pseudokoroga spongiophila might feed on any potential food which passes into its host. Since P. spongiophila may occasionally feed on sponge tissue there is a reduced need to leave the sponge habitat for feeding. The absence of juveniles of Pseudokoroga spongiophila in the sponges could be explained by their possible inability to feed on sponge tissue.
- The mouthparts of Pseudokoroga spongiophila do not show any special adaptation to the symbiotic lifestyle as found in other Antarctic amphipods. Echiniphimedia hodgsoni ( Walker, 1906), Iphimediidae, for example, is known as a specialist sponge feeder. Its right mandible bears a lacina mobilis which works as an additional cutting edge, enabling E. hodgsoni to bite out tough sponge material (Coleman, 1989). According to Oshel and Steele (1985), Paramphithoe hystrix Ross, 1835 eats the tissue of its host sponge Haliclona. The modifications of its mouthparts for swallowing the sponge's spicules as a whole are minimal, but the mandibular molar process are supposed to be modified to manipulate the spicules without breaking.
- Further species of amphipods which were found in the same sponges belonged to four different families: Colomastix fissilingua (Schellenberg, 1926): Colomastigidae; Andaniotes linearis ( K. H. Barnard, 1932) and Stegosoladius ingens (Chevreux, 1906): Stegocephalidae; Leucothoe spinicarpa (Abildgaard, 1789): Leucothoidae; and Polycheira antarctica (Stebbing, 1875): Dexaminidae. At Kapp Norvegia Colomastix fissilingua and Pseudokoroga spongiophila were the dominant taxa living in the sponges, whereas the stegocephalids dominated at the Antarctic Peninsula (Lorz, 2001).
- Sponges were the third important item of the diet of 29 representative amphipod species in the eastern Weddell Sea shelf ecosystem, followed by plankton-originating cells and crustaceans (Dauby et al., 2001). Among these amphipods three species of Lysianassoidea had ingested Porifera, which constituted less than 10% of their food items. These species did not show any morphological adaptation to sponge feeding and were considered 'opportunistic feeders' by Dauby et al. (2001). The stomach contents as well as the basic mouthparts might indicate that Pseudokoroga spongiophila feeds unspecifically.