General Description

Stalked eyes, carapace covering the head and most of the thorax. Spine at anterodistal corner of eye stalk absent. Rostrum triangular, acute. Antenna 2 scale shorter than antenna 1 peduncle. Uropod exopod much longer than endopod. Abdomen long, ending in a tail fan bearing pair of statocysts. Telson cleft or notched with robust setae present along distal half to two thirds of outer margins. Up to 1.5 cm long.

Biology

Opossum shrimps are so-called because they carry their eggs and young in a marsupium-like pouch. Mysids can form large shoals in shallow waters, thus are an abundant food source for both adult and juvenile coastal fish.

Distribution

Southern temperate oceans, including south-eastern Australia.

Habitat

Shallow water and seagrass beds, to depths of 100 m.

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