Crustacea are the all important members of the plankton, but among the Crustacea, no group is more important and successful than that which we refer to as the Amphipods. They are predominantly predators, but their main claim to fame is that they swim and dart more rapidly than any other planktonic creatures in search of their prey. They literally move so fast as to not be noticed. 'Zapping about' is a better way to describe their activity. Most are heavily armoured, so are well protected from predation themselves. Invariably they have massive, toothed, grappling forelegs and usually some of the most elaborate holoptic compound eyes, in which the entire head is composed of lenticular domes of prismatic optical lenslets that survey 360 degrees both horizontally and vertically. The Amphipod here has its head almost 100% comprised of these beautiful crystalline optical components whose function and optical principles are far from understood, like so much of plankton biology.

Bermuda (1994)

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