Pleurocrypta marginata
Native
As with other species in this genus, the larger female is asymetrical and pyriform in shape with prominent coxal plates and biramous pleopods. In the smaller, slender male, the pleon somites are fused. For further details, see Sars (1899, pp. 207-8 and Plate 87).
This species has been recorded in Northumberland (Sheader 2000), south Devon, in the Firth of Clyde and occasionally elsewhere. It has been found in the branchial cavity of two Squat Lobster host species, Galathea squamifera and Galathea intermedia. The species' presence may be detectable externally by a bulge in the carapace of the cephalothorax of the host.
Naylor, E. & A. Brandt. 2015. Intertidal Marine Isopods. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series), No. 3. Field Studies Council, for The Linnean Society of London.
Sars, G. O. 1899. An Account of the Crustacea of Norway, Vol. II Isopoda. Bergen: Bergen Museum.
Sheader, Martin. 2000. Isopoda. In Judy Foster-Smith (ed.) The Marine Fauna and Flora of the Cullercoats District: Marine Species Records for the North East Coast of England (Volume 1), pp. 377-390. Sunderland: Penshaw Press.
World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS): https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=118225
Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) distribution map: https://mapper.obis.org/?taxonid=118225