lysianassoid amphipod Abyssorchomene plebs

Abyssorchomene plebs is found throughout Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and the South Orkney Islands from 0 to 800 meters depth [2,6,8]. A. plebs is a dominant benthic amphipod in McMurdo Sound and is more commonly found deeper than fifty meters [1,4]. A. plebs has been collected at lengths up to 2.6 centimeters [5]. A. plebs is a voracious scavenger; it can swarm in hordes feeding on dead animals (necrophagous) and fecal material [1,4]. A. plebs has also been observed attacking fish, clustering on gills, and causing death quickly [1]. A. plebs develop their eggs in winter with young hatching in spring [1]. Predators of A. plebs include the fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki and Trematomus bernacchii, and the Antarctic tern, who picks it from carrion washed ashore, on which the amphipod feeds in deeper water [3,6,10].

Taxonomic Note: Genus revised from Orchomene to Abyssorchomene [9]. Sometimes referred to as Orchomene plebs in recent literature.

1: Polar Biology 1(1):47-54, 1982; 2: 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; 3: Polar Biology 8(1):49-54, 1987; 4: Polar Biology 6(3):171-177, 1986; 5: Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Polar Biology. Memoirs of the National Institute of Polar Research, Special Issue 40:249-258, 1986; 6: Antarctic Science 11(3):316-321, 1999; 7: Contribution to the Marine Biodiversity Inventory. A Checklist of the Amphipoda (Crustacea) of the Southern Ocean. C De Broyer, K Jazdzewski. Documents de Travail de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Number 73 = Studiedocumenten van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, Number 73. Bruxelles, 1993; 8: Polish Polar Research 12(3):461-472, 1991; 9: Annales de la Societe Royale Zoologique de Belgique 114 (Supplement 1): 197-198, 1984; 10: Polar Biology 27(11):721-728, 2004

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