Marine Species Identification Portal : Campylaspis costata

(Sars, 1865)

Description:
Carapace with dorsal outline arched in the female, less so in the male, sides sculptured with three pairs of oblique folds, the hindermost bifurcating so that a fourth fold nearly reaches the hind margin and then turns forward to rejoin the third near the mid-line. Eye distinct, with lenses.
Pereionites 1 and 2 produced dorsally, each with a median point. Pereionite 5 and pleonites 1-4 each with a pair of dorso-lateral tubercles. Dactyl of pereiopod 2 not longer than the carpus and propodus combined.
No free telson.

Colour:
In life reddish-brown.

Size:
Up to 6.5 mm.

Habitat:
Boreal, found on muddy sand and mud.

Depth range:
Down from 40 to 500 m (once from 1500 m in North-West Atlantic).

Distribution in the North Sea:
Northern North Sea, Skagerrak.

World distribution:
An Arctic-Boreal species mainly from the upper shelf, recorded from the North Sea northwards to the Arctic and from the north-western Pacific.

Campylaspis costata