sebid amphipod Seba antarctica

Seba antarctica is found in Antarctica and South Georgia Island and Bouvet Island at depths from 5 to 399 meters [3,4,7,8]. S. antarctica has been collected at lengths up to seven millimeters [5].

Both of these photos are males collected from the volcano sponge Anoxycalyx (Scolymastra) joubini [1]. Seba antarctica shows a high preference for living in sponges, but not exclusively so, having also been recorded on ascidians [7]. S. antarctica is an ectoparasite on sponges, both eating the sponge and using it for shelter from predators [7]. Predators of Seba antarctica include the fish Trematomus bernacchii [6].

Among malacostracan crustaceans, amphipods are the most abundant and diverse group in benthic Antarctica [2].

1: Kathleen Conlan, personal communication, 1999; 2: Polar Biology 11(1):73-79, 1990; 3: Catalogue of the Marine Gammaridean Amphipoda of the Southern Ocean. JK Lowry, S Bullock. Wellington : Royal Society of New Zealand, 1976. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 16; 4: Amphipoda from the Southern Ocean: Families Colomastigidae, Dexaminidae, Leucothoidae, Liljeborgiidae, and Sebidae. H Holman and L Watling. Biology of the Antarctic Seas 13. Antarctic Research Series 38(Paper 4):215-262, 1983; 5: Adaptations within Antarctic Ecosystems : Proceedings of the Third SCAR Symposium on Antarctic Biology. George A. Llano, ed. Washington : Smithsonian Institution ; Houston, Tex. : distributed by Gulf Pub. Co., 1977. pp. 327- 334; 6: Polar Biology 27(11):721-728, 2004; 7: Polar Biology 24:744-753, 2001; 8: Polar Biology 29(2):83-96, 2006

Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photographs ©Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan). Photographs may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan).