Class Ostracoda
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Scan day: 17 February 2014 UTC
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Description: Information on these small shrimps which form part of the marine plankton and are frequently found as fossils, with photographs of a number of these from the Gault Clay, UK.
The Class Ostracoda, sometimes known as "seed shrimps", are small laterally compressed Crustacea enclosed within a protective shell. This shell is formed by two chitinous or calcareous valves that hinge above the dorsal region of the body. These creatures have adapted to various niches in the ocean plankton, on the sea floor, in freshwater ponds and even in humid forest soils. They are commonest, however, as shallow marine benthos, where they may number only less than the foraminifera amongst the fossil microfauna. Ostracods are particularly useful for the biozonation of marine strata on a local or regional scale and second to none as indicators of ancient shorelines, salinities and relative sea-floor depths. They have a long and well documented fossil record from the early Cambrian to the present day.
Size: 823 chars
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