International Journal of Aquaculture, 2016, Vol.6, No.14 1
-
6
1
Research Report Open Access
Species of the Genus Munida Leach, 1820, (Crustaea: Decapoda: Galatheidae),
Occurring off Thoothukudi Coast of Gulf of Mannar and in Adjacent Waters,
India
Vaitheeswaran T.
DAssistant General Manager, Research and Development, Quality Control, New Drug Discovery, Marine Invertebrate Division, Cancer Drugs; Rarbio Energies
Private Limited #311/2, Vellalar Street, Mel Ayanambakkam, Chennai-600 95, Tamil Nadu, India, 600023
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2016, Vol.7, No.1 doi
Received: 11 May, 2016
Accepted: 16 Aug., 2016
Published: 16 Aug., 2016
Copyright © 2016
Vaitheeswaran, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Vaitheeswaran T., 2016, Species of the Genus Munida Leach, 1820, (Crustaea: Decapoda: Galatheidae), Occurring off Thoothukudi Coast of Gulf of Mannar and in
Adjacent Waters, India, International Journal of Aquaculture, 6(14): 1-6 (doi
Abstract
The squat lobster; Munida semoni Ortmann, 1894 was recorded for the first time from the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Mannar in
adjacent waters) is described and illustrated, during March, 2015. One specimen of the said species was collected as an incidental catch in
the deep sea trawl fisheries off Thoothukudi coast of Gulf of Mannar, between 08
º
35' 22.5" N lat. 78
º
27' 40.9" E long and 08
º
31'
91.2" N lat. 78
º
25' 32.7"E long at a depth of 305-310 m. The total number of squat lobsters from India now rose to 53. The present
records show its extended distribution from Gulf of Mannar to Indonesia, New Caledonia and further to South West Pacific (Futuna
Island).
Keywords
Munida semoni
; Munididae; Thoothukudi coast; Gulf of Mannar; Indian coast
1 Introduction
The squat lobsters include six recognized families (Chirostylidae, Eumunididae, Kiwaidae, Galatheidae, Munididae
and Munidopsidae) in two super families (Chirostyloidea and Galatheioidea) of decapods crustaceans within the
infraorder Anomura (Ahyong et al., 2010; Schnabel). Taxonomic and ecological interest in squat lobsters has grown
considerably over the last two decades. The squat lobster genus
Munida
Leach, 1820 is most species-rich in the
Galatheoidea, represented by 265 species worldwide (Baba et al., 2008; Macpherson, 2009; Cabezas et al., 2009;
Hendrickx and Ayon Parente, 2010; Komai, 2011a; Komai, 2011b). Most species of
Munida
are from shelf and slope
depths. The approximately 930 described species of squat lobsters are known form a wide range of depths (littoral to
abyssal) and exhibit a worldwide distribution (Macpherson et al., 2010). The majority of genera have a limited overall
vertical range, 31 genera are restricted to within a 1000 m depth band. Fifteen of these genera across all families
comprise entirely of shallow-water species (<400 m), the chirostyloid genera
Chirostylus
and
Hapaloptyx
and the
galatheoid genera
Allogalathea
,
Allomunida, Anomoeomunida
,
Cervimunida, Coralliogalathea
,
Fennerogalathea
,
Lauriea
,
Macrothea, Nanogalathea
,
Neonida, Pleuroncodes
,
Setanida
, and
Sadayoshia
. Records for a further twelve
galatheoid genera remain within the upper 1000 m (
Alainius, Babamunida, Bathymunida, Crosnierita, Heteronida,
Janetogalathea, Onconida, Paramunida, Plesionida, Raymunida, Tasmanida
and
Torbenella
). The remaining 17
genera include the most speciose taxa (
Munida, Munidopsis
and
Uroptychus
) and are recorded from deeper than 1000
m. These deep-water genera have a wide bathymetric range that includes both shelf and slope species and, in the case
of
Munidopsis
and
Galacantha,
also abyssal species (with a depth range of 5–5330 m and 404–3212 m, respectively).
Therefore, nearly all genera contain some shallow-water species even if the overall depth range reaches to
considerable depth. Exceptions are the monotypic deep-sea genera
Pseudomunida
(Chirostyloidea: Eumunididae) and
the hydrothermal vent
Shinkaia
(Galatheoidea: Munidopsidae) that are known only from few locations within a very
limited depth band (Baba et al., 2008).
