Biodiversity & Conservation

A sand hopper - Bathyporeia elegans

Bathyporeia elegans

Image Crown copyright - Bathyporeia elegans. Image width ca XX cm.
Image copyright information

Distribution map

Bathyporeia elegans recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

Sightings Have you seen Bathyporeia elegans?
If so please submit your record.

Bathyporeia elegans is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Arthropoda Arthropods, joint-legged animals, e.g. insects, crustaceans & spiders
Class Malacostraca Crabs, lobsters, sand hoppers and sea slaters
Authority Watkin, 1938
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Bathyporeia elegans is found widely distributed on the coasts of Britain and Ireland, and may be locally abundant.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Bathyporeia elegans inhabits fine and muddy sand from low water to depths of 40 m.
Text page icon Description Bathyporeia elegans is a small sand-hopper with a slender, elongate, laterally-compressed body that grows to up to 0.6 cm length and is devoid of colour. The head bears a pair of large, distinct, red-coloured eyes, two pairs of antennae and four pairs of mouthparts. The first pair of antennae have a large rectangular basal segment, bearing plumose chaetae on the ventral surface, and a number of smaller segments at right angles to each other. The antennae tip bears a flagellum, that is five to six segmented in females but nine to eleven segmented in males, and a smaller, two segmented accessory flagellum. The second pair of antennae are five-segmented, bearing an eight to ten segmented flagellum in females but a filiform flagellum in males. In females, this pair of antennae are twice as long than the first pair but in males, they extend the entire length of the body. The segments of the thorax each bear a pair of broad, densely haired pereopods, which are modified at the first segment into rounded chaetae-bearing coxal plates. The first two pairs of pereopods are modified into simple, sub-chelate gnathopods, whereas the third to seventh pairs bear a small terminal claw. The abdomen is covered by epimeral plates on the dorsal surface, the third of which is smoothly rounded, lacks a toothed corner and has three groups of ventral spines. The fourth plate is notched, bearing paired spines and bristles. The segments of the abdomen each bear a pair of two armed pleopods.
Identifying features
  • Colourless, laterally compressed body, up to 0.6 cm in length.
  • First pair of antennae with large, rectangular basal segments, genticulate segmentation and an accessory flagellum.
  • Second pair of antennae in females twice the length of the first but extend the length of the body in males.
  • Eyes large and red.
  • Plate of the third segment of the pleon lacks a toothed corner and bears three groups on the ventral edge.
  • Fourth segment of the pleon is notched dorsally, and bears paired spines and bristles.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Saskiya Richards 2008. Bathyporeia elegans. A sand hopper. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 18/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2739>