The Deep Sea's Crustacean Caretakers
From giant isopods to deep sea amphipods of the Mariana Trench, crustaceans in the deep ocean. They occupy the role of detrivores. A clean-up crew, like the giant isopod, scavenging organic matter on the sea-floor. 10,900 metres down, in the depths of the Mariana Trench, the hadal amphipod takes to the unlit stage and consumes just about anything it finds, playing an important part in recycling nutrients. The size of amphipods seems to increase dramatically with depth from 8mm in the shallows to over 34 centimetres in the hadal zone. Here, the slow-moving Alicella gigantea gorges itself for hours. But although it is far larger than many of its cousins, its size is not so odd when we consider it has adapted to fulfil a niche that, in shallower water, is occupied by other large bottom dwellers like crabs, one the most diversified crustaceans in the world.
