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| Gribble | |
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| Limnoria with eggs | |
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| Family: | Limnoriidae White, 1850 |
A gribble is any species of marine isopod from the family Limnoriidae. They are mostly pale white and small (1-4 mm long) crustaceans.
The term gribble was originally used for the wood-boring species, especially the first species described from Norway by Rathke in 1799, Limnoria lignorum. The Limnoriidae have species which bore into seaweed and sea grass, as well as wood borers.
There are three genera, Paralimnoria, Limnoria and Lynseia. Limnoria has species in most seas. Those gribbles able to bore into living marine plants are thought to have evolved from a wood (dead plant) boring species.
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