Chiridotea coeca

Chiridotea coeca, the sand isopod, is a species of isopod crustacean found in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Florida.

Chiridotea coeca
Chiridotea coeca 1818
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Isopoda
Family:	Chaetiliidae
Genus:	Chiridotea
Species:	C. coeca
Binomial name
Chiridotea coeca (Say, 1818)
Synonyms[1]
Idotea coeca Say, 1818 Chiridotea nigrescens Wigley, 1961

Characteristics

Adult sand isopods are horizontally flattened.^[2] The thorax is almost round from above and the long, robust legs with large setae. The abdomen is short and pointed. Sand isopods reach 15 mm (0.59 in) in length and 7 mm (0.28 in) in width. They use the last pair of legs to dig tunnels in sand. When removed from the tunnels (for instance, by wave action), sand isopods swim down to the substrate, where they dig underground again.

Ecology

Chiridotea coeca feeds on carrion, which it holds with its gnathopods while chewing pieces off with its mandibles.^[3]

References

1. Rachael A. King and Alison M. Cawood (2007). "A revision of the genus Chiridotea (Isopoda: Chaetiliidae) with species redescriptions and a key". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 27 (1): 121–139. doi:10.1651/S-2708.1.
2. Hugh Griffith & Malcolm Telford (1985). "Morphological adaptations to burrowing in Chiridotea coeca (Crustacea, Isopoda)". The Biological Bulletin. 168 (2): 296–311. JSTOR 1541242.
3. J. C. Britton & Brian Morton (1993). "Are there obligate marine scavengers?". In Brian Morton (ed.). The Marine Biology of the South China Sea: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Marine Biology of Hong Kong and the South China Sea, Hong Kong, 28 October-3 November 1990. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 357–392. ISBN 978-962-209-355-3.

Further reading

• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 2 – Protostomes.