Caprellidea

(invertebrate zoology) A suborder of marine and brackish-water animals of the crustacean order Amphipoda.

A common crustacean suborder in marine and estuarine environments, belonging to the superorder Peracarida, order Amphipoda. As peracarids, female Caprellidea have a ventral brood pouch and eggs develop directly (that is, there are no planktonic larvae); as amphipods, Caprellidea have the second and third thoracic appendages formed into enlarged subchelate claws (gnathopods). The abdomen and abdominal appendages of caprellideans are reduced; thus caprellideans are restricted to a clinging and crawling life-style. Almost all caprellideans use other organisms as substrata. Family distinctions within the Caprellidea are being reevaluated, but the classical divisions are the families Caprellidae and Cyamidae (whale lice). The ecology of both families is poorly understood. See also Amphipoda; Crustacea.