CAPRELLIDAE OF WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 101 



tion for this habitat by the loss of spination and setation of pereopods 

 5-7, which would definitely be a hinderance when moving over the 

 highly pedicellate surface of the starfish. For other species associated 

 with echinoderms, see p. 52. 



Caprella andreae is found attached to floatmg objects and plants 

 and has even been collected from the fouling on the backs of sea 

 turtles. This species seems to be lunited to this type of environment 

 and to my knowledge has not been collected attached to benthic 

 substrates. 



Phtisica marina was found in many of the U.S. Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries vessel M/V Theodore N. Gill plankton samples and appears 

 to be a regular member of the Carolinian coastal water plankton 

 from Cape Hatteras to southern Flordia (fig. 56) P. marina lacks a 

 molar on the mandible which may reflect an adaptation to feeding in 

 its planktonic environment. Several other species have occasionally 

 been taken in plankton tows including Hemiaegina minuta and 

 Luconacia incerta; however, these species have a molar on the man- 

 dible. 



The feeding habits of several west coast species of Caprella and 

 Metacaprella were reviewed by Saunders (1966). She found the bulk 

 of their diet consisted of diatoms, but they also consumed some 

 crustaceans and perhaps also fed on detritus. Since the mouthparts of 

 most of the species of Caprella are very similar, they must have 

 similar feeding habits. As noted on p. 30, I have observed Caprella 

 equilibra feeding on several gammaridean amphipods and polychaetes. 

 Harrison (1939) reviewed the habits of several capreUids. He stated 

 that the caprellids close the antennae down over the prey and then 

 gnathopod 2 grasps the prey, soon paralyzing it with the poison 

 spines. The prey is then shredded by the mouthparts, after which the 

 appendages are cleaned for bits of debris. 



CapreUids are not infrequent members of the food chains of many 

 bottom feeding fishes and have been found in the guts of the sea bass, 

 Centropristis, the blenny, Blennius, the poUock, Pollachius, the rock 

 cod, Gadus, the dragon net, Callionymus, and the skate, Raja. Aquar- 

 ium observations on several species showed that they were prey for 

 grass shrimps, anemones, and even the small gastropod, Astyris. 

 Caprellids will probably be found to be prey for many other bottom 

 feeding fishes and larger Crustacea. 



Zoogeography 



The western Atlantic is rather poor in number of caprellid species 

 compared to similar areas in the Pacific. Utinomi (1947), Mayer 

 (1930), and Arimoto (1934) cite over 60 species which occur in Japa- 



