Swarms of the hyperiid amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii along the False Bay (Western Cape, South Africa) coastline

ABSTRACT

Tornado-shaped swarms of the hyperiid amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii were observed along the coast of False Bay, South Africa. This is the first time such swarming behaviour has been recorded in the area. The swarms were confirmed to be monospecific, with the majority of the individuals being female. At least 26% of females were gravid and there was no statistical difference in size among males, gravid females, and non-gravid females.

KEYWORDS:

• plankton
• sex ratio
• reproduction
• tornado shaped

Funding

While no funding was specifically provided for this work, the authors would like to thank the University of the Western Cape and the National Research Foundation for their support.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Riaan de Villiers for granting us access to and permission to use the footage for this paper. We thank the University of the Western Cape for their support, as always. The editor and reviewer are also thanked for their feedback which served to strengthen the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2089606