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Marine Mites

            Order: Acari or Acarina

                        All species are fluid feeders that suck plant or animal tissue fluid through a pharynx. They can liquefy solid food by excreting an enzyme with their salivary glands. Although there are fresh water and marine species, the most commonly known organisms in the Acari family are dust mites, wood mites, ticks, chiggers, and scabies mites. They are characterized by four pairs of legs although some species have fewer. They have cheliceras with pinchers or pedipalps for feeding (Pearse and Buchsbaum 1987).

        Below are pictures of the marine mite species found on the samples I collected from Nahant in 2004. Although the mites were found in nearly ever sample, they appeared in the highest density in the hair-like brown algae Pilayella littoralis, an epiphyte that grew in clumps at the base of lateral branches off the main stipe of Ascophyllum in a few samples. There was another mite observed in one sample that had a similar body shape, but a brown coloration.  

Photo by Camilo Khatchikian and Kate Hartman