serolid isopod Ceratoserolis meridionalis

Ceratoserolis meridionalis is found throughout Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands, at depths from 730 to 2,759 meters [2,6,7,8,9]. C. meridionalis has been collected at lengths of 6.67 centimeters, plus a caudal spiny tail of 2.67 centimeters length, and a width of 5.18 centimeters [6,7]. Compared to the two other members of its genus, C. meridionalis has a characteristic long caudal serrated protrusion (its "tail") [1,6].

Serolid isopods live on sand and mud and are able to burrow into sand [1]. This serolid isopod illustrates how body size can be increased by flattening to occupy more two-dimensional space; flattening helps an organism minimize sinking into a fine-grained soft bottom on which it may live [4]. The eyes of serolid isopods have a large vision field, seeing their surroundings without moving their heads [3]. The second antennae of serolid isopods have brushes used to push sand on the body and to clean the dorsal surface when crawling [3]. Serolid isopods have a concavity under their body which remains sand-free and used to stream water, exiting from a funnel forming at its tail [3]. Serolid isopods are predators and scavengers, feeding on polychaete worms and crustaceans [1,3].

Taxonomic Note: Genus was previous Serolis [1,5,6].

1: Antarctic Serolidae and Cirolanidae (Crustacea, Isopoda) : New Genera, New Species, and Redescriptions. A. Brandt. Koenigstein : Koeltz Scientific Books, 1988; 2: Jim Mastro, personal communication, collected at 730 meters in McMurdo Sound, 1999; 3: Antarctic Isopoda Valvifera. JW Wagele. Koenigstein ; Champaign, Ill. : Koeltz Scientific Books, 1991; 4: The Environment of the Deep Sea, Rubey Volume II. WG Ernst & JG Morin, eds. Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall, 1982. pp. 324-356; 5: Polar Biology 6:127-137, 1986; 6: Science Reports of Yokohama National University. Sec. II 38:1-21, 1991; 7 Biological reports of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition, 1955-1958 (Rezultaty biologicheskikh issledovanii Sovetskoi antarkticheskoi ekspeditsii, 1955-1958) EP Pavlovskii, chief ed. Volume 3: AP Andriyashev and PV Ushakov, eds. Jerusalem : IPST Press for Israel Program for Scientific Translations, 1968. on page 243; 8 Berichte zur Polarforschung 98, 1991, 240 pp.; 9: Polar Biology 28(1):1-14, 2004

Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photograph ©Jim Mastro. Photographs may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Jim Mastro.