Shawn O
Active member
OK, I know this is not something you'll see on the reefs but was hoping to find some sort of identification on these critters I found in the tide pools near Boston yesterday evening. Unfortunately, my digital camera is broken, my phone takes horrible pics and the wife's camera is not recognized by my pc any more, so....
These critters look like a pill bug, they;
- don't roll up into a ball
- seem to have a bit of a tail, which is to say the end of their body is a bit pointed like a ducks tail feathers
- have a pair of whitish eyes
- are black/brown and tan banded, the bands getting thinner along the back until they are very thin.
- one is almost completely tan, the dark bands are only dark at the center line of the body giving the look of a dark stripe down the back, it's also the largest and the other's were taking turns clamping onto it's back and riding around on it like they were mating.
- they swim along the sand and then bury down
- are approx 1/4" - 1/2" in length
- have roughly 5 or 6 legs on each side
- can survive for at least 18 hours in a covered plastic cup with about 3" of room-temp ocean water.
Note: There was also a mysid looking shrimp 1/4" in with them and another shrimp type critter that was about 5/8" with a ton of legs on the underside of the length of it's body (including tail) that would not stop swimming circles around the cup at all. These pill bug things didn't seem to be trying to eat them.
Do these sound like amphipods or isopods? I'm trying to figure out where to look for any info on them, being from my area I assume there is not much info on the web about them.
These critters look like a pill bug, they;
- don't roll up into a ball
- seem to have a bit of a tail, which is to say the end of their body is a bit pointed like a ducks tail feathers
- have a pair of whitish eyes
- are black/brown and tan banded, the bands getting thinner along the back until they are very thin.
- one is almost completely tan, the dark bands are only dark at the center line of the body giving the look of a dark stripe down the back, it's also the largest and the other's were taking turns clamping onto it's back and riding around on it like they were mating.
- they swim along the sand and then bury down
- are approx 1/4" - 1/2" in length
- have roughly 5 or 6 legs on each side
- can survive for at least 18 hours in a covered plastic cup with about 3" of room-temp ocean water.
Note: There was also a mysid looking shrimp 1/4" in with them and another shrimp type critter that was about 5/8" with a ton of legs on the underside of the length of it's body (including tail) that would not stop swimming circles around the cup at all. These pill bug things didn't seem to be trying to eat them.
Do these sound like amphipods or isopods? I'm trying to figure out where to look for any info on them, being from my area I assume there is not much info on the web about them.
