Clausidium vancouverense
Encyclopedia
Clausidium vancouverense, the red copepod, is a symbiont
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...

 of the ghost shrimp
Thalassinidea
Thalassinidea is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans that live in burrows in muddy bottoms of the world's oceans. In Australian English, the littoral thalassinidean Trypaea australiensis is referred to as the yabby , frequently used as bait for estuarine fishing; elsewhere, however, they are...

 Neotrypaea californiensis
Neotrypaea californiensis
Neotrypaea californiensis , the Bay ghost shrimp, is a species of ghost shrimp that lives on the Pacific coast of North America. It is a pale animal which grows to a length of . One claw is bigger than the other, especially in males, and the enlarged claw is thought to have a function in mating...

. It is one of six species in the genus Clausidium
Clausidium
Clausidium is a genus of copepods, containing the following species:*Clausidium apodiformis *Clausidium californiense C. B. Wilson, 1935*Clausidium caudatum *Clausidium chelatum Pillai, 1959...

and is found with its host in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 from Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 to Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

.

Description

Females range in length from 1.086 sigfig=2. The female is larger than the male, and a female sometimes carries a male attached to her dorsal thorax.

Several features separate this copepod from other species in its genus. These include the blade-like seta
Seta
Seta is a biological term derived from the Latin word for "bristle". It refers to a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms.-Animal setae:In zoology, most "setae" occur in invertebrates....

 on the first leg and the small lateral hairs on the setae of the fifth leg on females. In males, the structure of the maxilliped is unique.

Ecology

Copepod distribution of a similar species Clausidium dissimile on ghost shrimp were positively correlated to the host's body size, but host sex did not affect distribution. C. vancouverense sticks to the branchial cavity
Gill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...

of its host via suckers.
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