Mysis salemaai is a transparent shrimp-like crustacean, of less than 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) length. It has two pairs of relatively long antennae, associated with rounded antennal plates; large, stalked compound eyes; the thorax covered by a coat-like carapace; a muscular, cylindrical abdomen; and a tail fan featuring a telson with a V-shaped terminal cleft. Reproducing females bear a prominent brood pouch (marsupium) between their legs. Mysis are often called opossum shrimp.
Mysis salemaai is a North European species which lives both in fresh and brackish waters. It is found in ten lakes on the island of Ireland, including Lough Neagh, Lough Erne, Lough Corrib and Lough Ree.[1] It is also found in several lakes of Southern Scandinavia, including Fureso in Denmark and the large lakes Vänern and VätterninSweden, and also in the Republic of Karelia.[2]Mysis salemaai is also common in the Baltic Sea, where it lives in offshore waters of the diluted northern parts of the basin.[2]
Previously M. salemaai was confused with Mysis relicta, which is a morphologically similar sibling species. The distributions of the two species overlap in the Baltic Sea and some lakes of Sweden, but M. relicta is not found in Ireland.[2][1]
^ abcMarcin Penk (2011). "A review of the current distribution of the freshwater opossum shrimp Mysis salemaai Audzijonyte and Väinölä, 2005 in Ireland". Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 111B (2): 1–9. doi:10.3318/BIOE.2011.09. S2CID129482357.
^ abcAsta Audzijonytė & Risto Väinölä (2005). "Diversity and distributions of circumpolar fresh- and brackish-water Mysis (Crustacea: Mysida): descriptions of M. relicta Lovén, 1862, M. salemaai n.sp., M. segerstralei n.sp. and M. diluviana n.sp., based on molecular and morphological characters". Hydrobiologia. 544 (1): 89–141. doi:10.1007/s10750-004-8337-7. S2CID20925048.
