Phronima
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P. atlantica |
Phronima, the pram bug amphipod, is a small, translucent deep-sea hyperiid amphipod of the family Phronimidae. It resembles a shrimp with a head, eyes, jaws and clawed arms. Phronima are only seen in the wild at great depths, usually by submarine crews, and are usually only about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long. Phronima are carnivorous; they eat small plankton.
P. sedentaria often uses dead salps for housing.
A little-known piece of movie trivia is that Phronima was supposedly an early inspiration for the H.R. Giger design of the alien from the film Alien (as well as its sequels), which was originally intended to be translucent and have eyes (the former being eliminated due to technical difficulty, the latter to make the alien more intimidating)[citation needed].
