lysianassoid amphipod Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) pinguides

Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) pinguides is found throughout Antarctica and South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, and South Georgia Island, from 0 to 800 meters depth [2,7].

Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) pinguides is a dominant benthic amphipod in McMurdo Sound and is commonly found on shallow water benches under ten meters depth [1]. O. pinguides has been collected at lengths up to 1.3 centimeter [3,7].

O. pinguides eats dead animals (including Weddell seals and grounded medusa), fecal matter, sedimenting plankton, and invertebrate prey, especially planktonic copepods that impact the bottom during winter [1,9]. O. pinguides is a much less aggressive and voracious swarming feeder compared to A. plebs [1].

Its predators include octopus and the fish Trematomus bernacchii [4,8].

Taxonomic Note: Genus revised from Orchomene to Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) [5,6].

1: Polar Biology 6(3):171-177, 1986; 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: 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; 4: Polar Biology 13:291- 296, 1993; 5: 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; 6: Annales de la Societe Royale Zoologique de Belgique 114 (Supplement 1): 197-198, 1984; 7: Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut 83:117-130, 1986; 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. http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/zim/niedere2/cruise_report.pdf; 9: Polar Biology 24:657-662, 2001

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).