Caprella penantis Leach, 1814

Paz-Ríos, Carlos E., Guerra-García, José M. & Ardisson, Pedro-Luis, 2014, REVIEW ARTICLE Caprellids (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from the Gulf of Mexico, with observations on Deutella mayeri, redescription of Metaprotella hummelincki, a taxonomic key and zoogeographical comments, Journal of Natural History 48 (41 - 42), pp. 2517-2578 : 2526-2528

Caprella penantis Leach, 1814

( Figure 3 )

Caprella Penantis Leach, 1814: 404 .

Caprella acutifrons Mayer, 1882, 1890: 50 , pl. 2, figs 36, 37, 39–41, pl. 4, figs 52, 53, 55, 57–61, 65–69; including the ‘forms’ neglecta, tabida, gibbosa, carolinensis, lusitanica, virginica.

Caprella geometrica Say, 1818 ; Pearse, 1912; McCain, 1965: 194–196, figs 1e, g, 2a–f.

Caprella carolinensis Steinberg and Dougherty, 1957: 270–273 , figs 3–7.

Caprella penantis McCain, 1968: 33–40 , figs 15, 16. McCain and Steinberg, 1970; Cavedini, 1982; Krapp-Schickel, 1993; Guerra-García and Takeuchi, 2002: 692– 693, fig. 12. Ortiz et al., 2002: fig. 23. Foster, Thomas, et al., 2004: 162, 171–172, fig. 10. Guerra-García, 2004: 30, fig. 26. Guerra-García and Takeuchi, 2004: 1013–1015, fig. 35. Diaz et al., 2005: 3–4, fig. 5. Guerra-García, 2006: 442, fig. 42. Guerra-García, Krapp-Schickel, et al., 2006: 153–157, figs 2–4. Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al., 2007: 44, fig. 12. Guerra-García and Lowry, 2009: 293– 294, fig. 2. Rodríguez-Almaras and Ortega-Vidales, 2013: 990, fig. 3.

Material examined

Station 32, two males, two females (one ovigerous; one male juvenile and one female from this station used for figures), BRTC 2–9108 .

Type locality

Devonshire coast, UK.

Distribution

Atlantic Ocean; Indian Ocean; Pacific Ocean; Mediterranean ( Guerra-García and Lowry 2009).

Records in the Gulf of Mexico

MEX: Alvarado Lagoon ( Cházaro-Olvera et al. 2002); Sigsbee abyssal plain at southwest ( Winfield et al. 2006); Laguna Madre (Rodríguez-Almaras and Ortega- Vidales 2013). USA: Strait of Florida ( Pearse 1912); Port Isabel; Port Aransas; Alligator Harbor ( Steinberg and Dougherty 1957); Galveston; Freeport; Ocean Springs; Destin; Panama City; St Georges; Apalachee Bay; Dunedin; Tampa Bay; Sarasota Bay; Key West ( McCain 1968); Brazos Santiago Pass (present study).

Habitat

Caprella penantis obtains its food primarily by filter-feeding and scraping, and detritus is the dominant stomach content in this species ( Caine 1974). This species has been found living in a great diversity of substrata, e.g. red and brown algae, seagrasses, sponges, hydroids, tunicates, bryozoans, echinoids ( McCain 1968), intertidal exposed areas, highly hydrodynamic areas, clinging on algae (Guerra-García 2001), gorgonaceans, Caulerpa sp. beds (Guerra-García 2004), mussels ( Diaz et al. 2005), hydroid Cnidoscyphus sp. (Guerra-García, Krapp-Schickel, et al. 2006), and muddy bottoms ( Winfield et al. 2006). The depth range reported is shallow water extending to 3700 m ( Winfield et al. 2006; Winfield and Escobar-Briones 2008; LeCroy et al. 2009).

Remarks

Caprella penantis is probably a complex of different species in which it is difficult to understand if the morphological variation is intra- or interspecific (Guerra-García, Redondo-Gómez, et al. 2006). To solve this taxonomic problem, Cabezas et al. (2010) used random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis indicating that the specimens of several populations around the world ( Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Japan and Brazil) of C. penantis could belong to the same species, in spite of morphological variations. However, molecular analysis based on mitochondrial DNA seems to reveal that it is effectively a complex of cryptic species (Cabezas, Cabezas, et al. 2013).

Figures

Figure 3. Caprella penantis Leach, 1814. Texas, USA; BRTC 2–9108. Scale bar: 1 mm.