ORDER AMPHIPODA

This order comprises 5500 very diverse species distinguished from isopods by their laterally compressed bodies. Sandhoppers, like Talitrus, are common amphipods on beaches, living in humid heaps of seaweed on the strand line. They use astronomical clues to find the high tide zone. Gammarus spp. are common occupants of fresh and salt water. Cyamids, ‘whale lice’, live on whales, feeding on detritus and organisms on the whale’s skin.