• Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Subphylum: Crustacea
  • Class: Malacostraca
  • Subclass: Eumalacostraca
  • Superorder: Peracarida
  • Order: Amphipoda
  • Suborder: Corophiidea
  • Family: Caprellidae
  • Scientific name: Caprella linearis
  • Norwegian: spøkelseskreps

Characteristics:

The body may reach a length of 3 cm, but more than 2 cm is rare. It can be confused with two other common skeleton shrimps, Phtisica marina and C. septentrionalis. The male C. linearis has a more elongated head than the two other species. Furthermore C. linearis has a pair of tubercles on the fifth body segment and a single on the sixth. The color may be red, green or light brown.

Habitat:

This amphipod does not seem to be very selective on its habitat. It can be found on any depth from the surface to several hundred meters, on algae, sea grass or often hydroids on greater depths.

Distribution:

This seem to be widespread species. It is registered in Arctic areas, the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as in New Zealand.