Syncaris Pacifica - Morphology

Morphology

Syncaris pacifica is a ten-legged crustacean that employs a two-pronged approach to camouflage: it uses a technique of translucency coupled with strategically placed chromatophores, which occur internally as well as on the surface. As a result, the clustered color-producing cells combined with translucency masks the body outline and blends the organism to its subsurface environment. Consequently an illusion is presented that S. pacifica are submerged, decaying vegetation. California freshwater shrimp move quite torpidly and are practically invisible among water column leaf and twig substrates, and among the slender, exposed, living roots of riparian vegetation along undercut stream banks.

Males and juveniles are always translucent or transparent, while coloration of the sometimes translucent females ranges from dark brown to purple, some with a broad tan dorsal band. Females may change rapidly from this very dark cryptic color to nearly transparent with diffuse chromatophores. Moreover, females are typically longer and deeper bodied than males.

All Atyidae family members can be distinguished from other shrimp by their overall length as well as the extent length of their pincer-like claws and manifestation of terminal bristles (setae) at the tips of the first and second chelae. A short spine above the eye and the angled articulation of the second chelae with the carpus differentiate the California freshwater shrimp from other shrimp that occur California. A carapace length (reckoned from eye socket to tail-tip) of slightly more than five centimeters can be attained.