Epimeria: Antarctic Crayfish Blow Your Mind (7 photos)

Deep waters distort even the most familiar forms. Epimeria are living proof of this. An ordinary shrimp climbed to the edge of the world and sank to where sunlight was unheard of. The result: a shell covered in spikes.





So this is what it is like. The Call of Cthulhu.

The indifferent gaze of a creature that has known the infinite eternal. Demonic red, as if in reminder of the infernal nature. This is the price for living in cold, hunger and eternal darkness.

Epimeria is a family of amphipods consisting of 85 species. Against the background of gray-pale living creatures, crustaceans stand out grotesquely with red, orange, yellow colors. You can’t tell that their relatives are nondescript gammarus crustaceans. The same ones that are used as food for aquarium fish.



These shrimps definitely won’t go with beer! Spiky, small, scary — can I please change the dish?

Alas, we are not destined to see a riot of colors for three reasons. Firstly, to meet a shrimp, you have to go to Antarctica. The entire family of unusual crustaceans settled in the southern polar waters. Secondly, you need to go down to the very bottom of the icy ocean. Epimeria live at depths from 150 to almost 6000 (!) meters.





If a photo with an alien existed, it would look something like this.

Thirdly, the bright coloring of amphipods perfectly camouflages them in the environment where they live. The sun's red rays simply do not reach their place of residence. As a result, local inhabitants see gray-black spots instead of bright red flowers.



At the same time, the size of the epimeria is not small - they grow up to 8 cm!

At the extreme pole, life even on the surface is not a fairy tale. And here the crustaceans have climbed into the very depths of the white wasteland! How do they survive there? Just wonderful! Epimeria have adapted perfectly to the harsh deep-sea realities. Each species has chosen a convenient niche: some have become excellent hunters. Others - peaceful filter feeders. Still others - lazy scavengers. And the smartest have combined all three strategies.



Predatory crustaceans hunt polychaete worms, sponges, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and even their small crustacean relatives.

There are amphipods by the wise principle "who understands life - does not hurry." If they are disturbed, they can quickly dart to the side, pushing off with their strong rear abdominal legs. But usually, epimeria meditatively move their paws along the bottom. But why hurry if there is eternal darkness around, where the concepts of space and time lose their meaning?



When your mother takes you out for a walk in the sun for the first time in a month.

How the children of darkness make their own children is not exactly known. It is assumed that the method of reproduction of these freaks is similar to that of all their numerous crustacean relatives.

As they grow older and gain weight, females develop a brood pouch - a "compartment" on the abdominal side for storing eggs. Males do not need to bother at all: the main thing for them is to find a respectable lady and cling to her back with all his legs. When the chosen one molts, the husband crawls onto the lady's belly and, using his abdominal legs, transfers his sperm into her brood pouch. A little later, the female lays eggs there.



Damn, I painted myself and put a mohawk especially for him, and he won't even see this beauty!

The crustaceans sit in the mother's pouch for more than a month. And then they quickly scatter in all directions. Epimeria do not burden themselves with parental feelings. Even their own child can become fuel that will preserve life in the cold void.