Fish and Marine Life Illustrations
Seed Shrimp (Ostracod, Ostracoda), colored pencil
Commissioned by: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
About seed shrimp:
Seed shrimp are small crustaceans about one mm in size. They are called "seed shrimp" because they resemble a shrimp inside a seed pod. Their shell (the carapace) is hinged like a clam and held shut with adductor muscles. The head (cephalon) has five pairs of hairy legs. The pronged tail is called a furca. They live in most water environments, both marine and freshwater. Ostracods reproduce sexually and asexually.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda (having a segmented body with appendages on each segment)
Subphylum: Crustacea (having 3 body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen/pleon)
Class: Ostracoda
More about seed shrimp:
Wikipedia: Ostracod
Museum Victoria Australia: Biology of Ostracods
University College London: Ostracods