Boas, 1883
Mysidacea are pericarid crustaceans with a well developed carapace that covers the head and most of the thorax, and is fused with the first three, rarely also with the fourth thoracic somites. The body is divided in two tagmata: the cephalothorax (a fusion of the head and thorax) and the abdomen. The thorax has six or seven somites, the abdomen has six somites, excluding the telson. The telson forms together with the uropods a well developed tailfan.
There are one or two pairs of maxillipeds and six or seven pairs of thoracic appendages that usually have exopods. The abdominal appendages are biramous when present, but often reduced or absent in females. The uropods usually have statocysts.
The antennae (a2) are biramous, the exopod is developed as the so-called antennal scale (squalum) and is important in the identification. The eyes are stalked and compound.
Larval development is epimorphic. The eggs are brooded by the female in a brood pouch (or marsupium) formed by the so-called oostegites, i.e. unique endites on the coxae of some of the thoracopods. The larvae hatch as miniature adults. The key to the North Sea species of Mysidacea starts at Page 279: Mysidacea.
Ecology
Mysids are primarily marine, but a few brackish or freshwater species are known. Mysids are generally pelagic, some are epibenthic (hyperbenthic or bathypelagic) or bentgic; they are known from al depths.
[Description after McLaughlin, 1980; Brusca and Brusca, 1990]
The following mysid species are included:
Order Mysidacea
Family lophogastridae
Lophogaster typicus
Family Mysidae
Boreomysis arctica
Boreomysis megalops
Boreomysis microps
Boreomysis tridens
Amblyops abbreviata
Amblyops kempi
Anchialina agilis
Erythrops abyssorum
Erythrops elegans
Erythrops erythrophthalma
Erythrops microps
Erythrops serrata
Meterythrops picta
Parerythrops obesa
Pseudomma affine
Pseudomma roseum
Gastrosaccus lobatus
Gastrosaccus normani
Gastrosaccus sanctus
Gastrosaccus spinifer
Heteromysis formosa
Leptomysis gracilis
Leptomysis lingvura
Leptomysis mediterranea
Mysideis insignis
Mysidetes farrani
Mysidopsis angusta
Mysidopsis didelphys
Mysidopsis gibbosa
Acanthomysis longicornis
Hemimysis abyssicola
Hemimysis lamornae
Mesopodopsis slabberi
Michtheimysis mixta
Neomysis integer
Paramysis arenosa
Paramysis helleri
Paramysis nouveli
Praunus flexuosus
Praunus inermis
Praunus neglectus
Schistomysis kervillei
Schistomysis ornata
Schistomysis parkeri
Schistomysis spiritus
Siriella armata
Siriella clausii
Siriella jaltensis
Siriella norvegica