lysianassoid amphipod Hippomedon kergueleni

Hippomedon kergueleni is found in Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Island, Bouvet Island, Kerguelen Island, the Snares Islands, and New Zealand at depths from 0 to 750 meters [1,3,4,5,9].

Hippomedon kergueleni has been found at lengths up to 2.2 centimeters [5,6]. Males live up to four years and females longer [4]. H. kergueleni is a burrowing bottom- feeding and necrophagous (carrion feeding) amphipod; its gut contents have been found to include diatoms, algal chains, crustaceans, polychaetes, and probably detritus [3,4]. Males live up to four years and females longer [4]. Its predators include octopus and the fish Trematomus bernacchii [7,8].

Hippomedon species are found in the Northeastern Pacific, North Atlantic, Arctic Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, and subantarctic islands [1,2]. Lysianassoid amphipods are found in diverse habitats including fish ectoparasites, invertebrate commensals, abyssopelagic, soft-bottom deposit-feeders or algal-dwellers, and demersal scavengers [1].

1: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 13(4):279-294, 1983; 2: Studies on Amphipod Crustaceans of the Northeastern Pacific Region. I. 1. Family Ampeliscidae, Genus Ampelisca. 2. Family Ampithoidae. 3. Family Aoridae. 4. Family Lysianassidae. Genus Hippomedon. JJ Dickinson, KE Conlan, EL Bousfield, NE Jarrett. National Museum of Natural Sciences. Publications in Biological Oceanography, Number 10. Ottawa : National Museums of Canada, 1982; 3: VIIth International Colloquium on Amphipoda: Proceedings of the VIIth International Colloquium on Amphipoda, held in Walpole, Maine, USA, September 14-16, 1990. L Watling, ed. Hydrobiologia, volume 223; Developments in Hydrobiology, number 70. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1991 pp.105-117; 4: British Antarctic Survey Bulletin 30:1-34, 1972; 5: The Crustacea Amphipoda of Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. MH Thurston. British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports, Number 71, 1972; 6: 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; 7: Polar Biology 13:291-296, 1993; 8: Biodiversity, Molecular Phylogeny and Trophodynamics of Amphipod Crustaceans in the Antarctic Deep- sea. C De Broyer et al. IN: ANDEEP, Cruise Report ANT- XIX/3 and ANT-XIX/4 (ANDEEP I and II), ANtarctic Benthic DEEP-sea Biodiversity (ANDEEP): Colonisation History and Recent Community Patterns. Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Germany. pp. 43-46. www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/zim/niedere2/cruise_report.pdf; 9: Polar Biology 29(2):83-96, 2006

Near H. kergueleni according to Kathleen Conlan. 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).