Ocean creature — with ‘panda’-colored body — is a new species in Japan. See it
Decades ago, Shigeyuki Yamato scanned the shallow coastal waters of southeastern Japan and saw something stand out from the stoney and sandy bottom.
It was a small, black and white creature similar to a shrimp. Yamato collected the animal but it was never formally identified.
Now, a study of the animal’s DNA has revealed it’s a species new to science.
Researchers Ko Tomikawa, from Hiroshima University, and Hiroyuki Ariyama, from the Osaka Museum of Natural History, recently went out to the same coastline and collected samples of the crustacean first discovered in the 1990s, according to a study published Sept. 21 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.
“Despite the fact that biodiversity conservation is a global issue, species diversity and other aspects of biodiversity are still not fully understood. As a first step toward species conservation, we conducted a taxonomic study of amphipod Crustacea, which boasts high species diversity around Japan,” Tomikawa said in an Oct. 24 news release from Hiroshima University.
The animal was a Melitid amphipod, a kind of “shrimp-like” crustacean found in oceans around the world, according to the release.
But, it wasn’t like any other melitid found before.
The animals are incredibly small, according to the study. The holotype, or primary specimen, had a length of 0.2 inches, and other specimens ranged in size from 0.17 to 0.3 inches.
The amphipod has a “black pattern on (a) white background” body, according to the study. Sections of the antennae, sides, head and posterior body are black, creating a color pattern similar to a giant panda.
This resemblance earns the new species its name: Melita panda.
The “panda-like” pattern distinguishes the crustacean from other related species, researchers said, as well as some key physical characteristics.
“Its gnathopods, which are claws that extend from the second thoracic segment, sit more forward than other Melita amphipods, covering another one of its appendages,” researchers said. “Its setae, which are hair-like structures that look like bristles, are also distinguishable from other Melita amphipods.”
The animals were collected in intertidal waters on the southeastern coast of Japan, an area with cobble and sand bottom. Researchers caught the amphipods in small hand-nets just above the seafloor.
“We hope the discovery of a new species of amphipod with the familiar coloring of the panda pattern will increase the public’s interest in biodiversity and taxonomy,” Tomikawa said. “... Hopefully, a detailed study of the ecology and behavior of Melita panda will reveal the reason for its panda pattern.”
The new species was found in Wakayama Prefecture, just south of Osaka.
The research team includes Tomikawa, Yamato and Ariyama.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Ocean creature — with ‘panda’-colored body — is a new species in Japan. See it."
