Deep sea krill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bentheuphausia amblyops |
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| after Mauchline 1971; after Sars 1885 | |
| Scientific classification | |
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Bentheuphausiidae
Colosi, 1917
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| Genus: |
Bentheuphausia
G. O. Sars, 1885
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| Species: |
B. amblyops
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| Binomial name | |
| Bentheuphausia amblyops G. O. Sars, 1883
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Bentheuphausia amblyops is a species of krill. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans living in the ocean.
B. amblyops is the only species within its genus, which in turn is the only genus within the family Bentheuphausiidae. All the 85 other species of krill known are classified in the family Euphausiidae.
B. amblyops can be found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It occurs in latitudes south of 40° N, and also in the southern seas of the Atlantic, in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific. It is a bathypelagic krill that lives in deep waters below 1,000 m. It is distinguished from the Euphausiidae by several morphological features. The features most easily used to tell it apart are that the animals are not bioluminescent and that their first pair of pleopods is not modified as copulatory tool organs. Also, their eyes are smaller than those of the Euphausiidae. Adults reach a length of 4 to 5 cm.
