GhostOnTheHalfShell
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Weekend #Plankton Factoid 馃馃
Ostracods are crustaceans that look like tiny clams. "Seed shrimp" have distinct shell-like carapaces that are well preserved in the fossil record and found in many waterbodies in benthic or pelagic realms. Planktonic ostracods extend their antennae and appendages to swim and capture food. They can exhibit green or blue bioluminescence and are very numerous in the mid-water zone of the oceans where they feed on sinking matter. Male ostracods have 2 penises. #science
image/jpeg side and top view of a yellow semi-transparent clam-like crustacean Eucypris pigra. At top is a left side view of the valve (shell) with extended appendages. Below is a top view clearly showing the hinge holding the two valves of the carapace together. Appendages emerge from on end of the open carapace.
Source unknown.
image/gif a microscopic video of an elongated clam-like animal extending its antennae and legs to swim. Dark structures inside the shell show the anatomy of the organism inside.
CC-BY-SA 4.0 by ikjbagl