Atlas of Atlantic Ostracods
Taxon details
Conchoecissa plinthina (Müller, G.W., 1906)
- Order:
- MYODOCOPA
- Suborder:
- Halocypridina
- Family:
- Halocyprididae
- Subfamily:
- Conchoecinae
- Size range (females):
- 4.9-5.8 mm
- Size range (males):
- 4.7-5.5 mm
- Depth:
- bathy-/abyssopelagic
Notes
126 records
This is another of the large highly ornamented species that Müller (1906) placed in the “imbricata group” of species. Poulsen (1973) subsequently placed it in Claus’s genus Conchoecissa. It is a bathypelagic species generally caught at depths of 1000-2000m at latitudes ranging from 45°S-50°N, but appears to be absent from the North Pacific except off the Kurile Islands. Its known range may be unrepresentative because so few samples have been collected from deep bathypelagic depths. Superficially it is similar to C. symmetrica, which is a Southern Ocean endemic, where it is the dominant Conchoecissa But this species is larger and is characterized by having rostra that are more hooked and less well developed tubercles at the posterior ventral corners. Live specimens are the scarlet red colour that is so typical of the decapod crustaceans that occur at similar depths. This colour probably produced by carotenoid pigments derived from the food. The carotenoids are functionally black at such depths where there is no red daylight to reflect, and also absorb the light with blue-green wave lengths typically produced by bioluminescence.
| ALL | n | Mean mm | s.d. | Range mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 50 | 5.45 | 0.240 | 4.92-5.83 |
| Male | 21 | 5.17 | 0.261 | 4.67-5.50 |
| A-1 | 13 | 3.89 | 0.181 | 3.68-4.24 |
| A-2 | 23 | 2.45 | 0.170 | 2.08-2,27 |
| A-3 | 31 | 1.65 | 0.136 | 1.44-1.92 |
| A-4 | 2 | 1.04 | 1.00-1.08 | |
| A-5 |
