Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-2dmjx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T07:03:51.135Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

First records of Podophthalmus nacreus (Brachyura: Portunidae) from Western Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2012

Andrew M. Hosie
Andrew M. Hosie*
Affiliation:
Aquatic Zoology, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew St, Perth, WA 6106, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.M. Hosie, Aquatic Zoology, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Perth, WA 6106, Australia email: andrew.hosie@museum.wa.gov.au

Abstract

The seas of tropical Australia are of global significance both environmentally and economically. Recent marine invertebrate surveys off the Western Australian coasts have revealed many new records and species. One of these is Podophthalmus nacreus, herein reported from within the Ningaloo Marine Park and thus representing the first record for this species from Australian waters.

Keywords

DecapodaCrustaceaswimming crabNingaloo Reefrange extensiondistribution

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 5 , August 2012 , e21
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

INTRODUCTION

The marine environment of tropical Australia is of global significance. In June 2011 the Ningaloo coast of central Western Australia was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the second such marine site in Western Australia after Shark Bay (UNESCO, 2011).

Western Australia is well known for its natural resources, and the areas immediately to the west and north of Ningaloo Reef contain large reserves of oil and gas and therefore are of great interest to the energy industry (Jonasson, Reference Jonasson2011). As such the importance of conserving this region and its biota cannot be understated.

The crustaceans of Ningaloo are poorly known but those of Shark Bay and Dampier Archipelago, over 250 kilometres to the south and north-east respectively, have been better studied (Jones, Reference Jones, Berry, Bradshaw and Wilson1990, Reference Jones2007; Hewitt, Reference Hewitt and Jones2004). Strangely, the off-shore decapods of Ningaloo are arguably better documented than those inhabiting the reef itself. This is a result of the recently published results of the FRV ‘Southern Surveyor' ss10-2005 ‘Voyage of Discovery' in which Poore et al. (Reference Poore, McCallum and Taylor2008) and McEnnulty et al. (Reference McEnnulty, Gowlett-Holmes, Williams, Althaus, Fromont, Poore, O'Hara, Marsh, Kott, Slack-Smith, Alderslade, Kitahara and McEnnulty2011) documented over 300 species of decapods collected between Red Bluff (~24°2′49″S 113°2′17″E) and Barrow Island (~20°59′42″S 114°54′32″E) in depths between 85 and 1295 m. An astonishing 62% of the recorded species were considered to represent either new records for the Western Australian coast or species new to science. Since then, a number of recent biological surveys have been carried out in that region. Research on this wealth of new material will greatly enhance our knowledge about this region's fauna.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All specimens examined are housed within the Crustacean Collections of the Western Australian Museum, Perth.

Measurements of carapace width by carapace length are given in millimetres.

The following abbreviations are used:

AIMS, Australian Institute of Marine Science; CERF, Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities; DOF, Department of Fisheries, WA; GA, Geosciences Australia; WAM, Western Australian Museum; WAMSI, Western Australia Marine Science Institute.

RESULTS

SYSTEMATICS

Order decapoda Latreille, Reference Latreille1802
Infraorder brachyura Linnaeus, Reference Linnaeus1758
Family portunidae Rafinesque, Reference Rafinesque1815
Genus Podophthalmus Lamarck, Reference Lamarck1801
Podophthalmus nacreus Alcock, Reference Alcock1899
(Figure 1A & B)
Fig. 1.

Podophthalmus nacreus Alcock, Reference Alcock1899, male, 24.7 × 13.5 (WAM C42403), from Ningaloo Reef, dorsal view (A) and ventral view of right cheliped (B). Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, 1789), male, 127.9 × 52.1 (WAM C11711), from Exmouth Gulf, dorsal view (C) and dorsal view of right cheliped (D). Scale bars: A = 10 mm; B&D = 5 mm; C = 20 mm.

MATERIAL EXAMINED

Western Australia: Ningaloo Marine Park: 2 males, 4 females (1 ovigerous), 12.4 × 7.0–26.4 × 13.3, WAM C38471, West of North-west Cape, 21°48′S 113°56′E, 122.5 m, coll: HMAS ‘Diamantina' Cruise, Station DM 1/24/64 1 February 1964; 1 male, 12.7 × 7.3, WAM C40745, Mandu Sanctuary Zone, 22°08′77″S 113°49′48″E, 72 m, coll: Salotti, M.P., AIMS-WAM RV ‘Cape Ferguson' Ningaloo Survey I April/May 2006, 25 April 2006; 1 juvenile female 14.6 × 8.2, WAM C40895, off Osprey Reef, Station CF4010&11D012, 22°11′53″S 113°47′50″E–22°11′18″S 113°47′57″E, 85.3–81 m, coll: Salotti, M.P., AIMS-WAM RV ‘Cape Ferguson' Ningaloo Survey I April/May 2006, 28 April 2006; 1 male, 24.7 × 13.5 WAM C42403, off Osprey Reef, Stations CF4010 and 11D007, 22°14′55″S 113°45′26″E–22°16′20″S 113°45′11″E, 104–99.7 m, coll: Salotti, M.P., AIMS-WAM RV ‘Cape Ferguson' Ningaloo Survey I April/May 2006, 26 April 2006; 1 female (ovigerous) 19.0 × 10.0, WAM C43228, Mandu Creek, Station SOL4769/2008/1-018SL01, 22°07′09″S 113°47′53″E–22°07′11″S 113°47′53″E, 112.8–113.2 m, coll: Gomez, O.A & Colquhoun, J., AIMS-WAM RV ‘Solander' Ningaloo Survey IV August 2008, 18 August 2008.

Philippines: Mindanao: 1 female (ovigerous) 20.1 × 10.7, WAM C48088, Coronado Bay, 45–126 m, on mud and sand, coll: King, M., RV ‘Pele', 10 February 1964.

COMPARATIVE MATERIAL EXAMINED

Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, Reference Fabricius1798): Western Australia: Ningaloo Marine Park: 1 female 108.2 × 46.5, WAM C11602 Muiron Islands, Near Sunday Island, 21°42′S 114°25′E, coll: Liddal, M.A., August 1973. Exmouth Gulf: 3 males, 102.1 × 40.5–127.9 × 52.1, WAM C11711, East of Kailis Fisheries, 22°07′30″S 114°10′00″E, 13 m, coll: Liddal, M.A., 19 May 1974; 1 male, 54.6 × 23.9, WAM C34902, 22°07′38″S 114°13′01″E, coll: Morrison S. & Unsworth, P., DOF-WAM RV ‘Naturaliste' Exmouth Gulf Survey I March 2004, 10 March 2004. Kimberley: 1 female, 102.8 × 46.5, WAM C45977, Cassini Island, 13°57′04″S 125°38′54″E, caught swimming in boat lights at night, coll: Hosie, A.M., WAM-Woodside Kimberley Survey 2010, 14 October 2010.

DIAGNOSIS

Carapace broadly hexagonal, width 1.7–2 times length; regions well defined; fronto-orbital grooves transverse, but lateral portion abruptly angled posteriorly to receive cornea; orbital angle notched. Anterolateral teeth acute, produced laterally; second anterolateral tooth very small. Eye-stalk narrow, cylindrical; distal segment swollen. Cheliped merus anterior margin with row of 5–7 short proximal spines followed by two larger curved, distal spines; posterior margin with two curved spines in distal half; dorsal surface with short distal crista. Propodus with 4 longitudinal carinae; internal surface smooth; inner dorsal carina terminating with acute distal spine. Male gonopod 1 strongly arcuate and evenly tapering, with scattered sharp spinules apically.

DISCUSSION

These specimens are the first records of Podophthalmus nacreus in Australian waters. Podophthalmus nacreus was first described from the Andaman Islands and the Gulf of Martaban by Alcock (Reference Alcock1899) and has since been recorded widely around the Indian Ocean rim (Crosnier & Thomassin, Reference Crosnier and Thomassin1974), and in the Western Pacific (Sakai, Reference Sakai1976; Moosa, Reference Moosa1981) as far east as New Caledonia (Ng & Richer de Forges, Reference Ng, Richer de Forges, Payri and Richer de Forges2007). Based on its known range it is very likely that the distributional range of P. nacreus extends across northern Australia. Podophthalmus nacreus is typically found on soft sediments, and has been recorded in water up to 127 m deep. All of the specimens examined have lost their natural colour but, as denoted by the species epithet, wet specimens still retain their nacreous sheen.

The species of Podophthalmus form a curious group, easily distinguished from other Australian portunids by their unusually long eye-stalks, a feature more commonly associated with the families Ocypodidae and Macrophthalmidae. Podophthalmus vigil is also a wide ranging species in the Indo-West Pacific and has long been known in eastern Australian waters. It was first reported in Western Australia from Exmouth Gulf by Stephenson & Campbell (Reference Stephenson and Campbell1960) and its range extends north into the Kimberley region of Western Australia (Hewitt, Reference Hewitt and Walker1997). The third species of the genus, P. minabensis Sakai, Reference Sakai1961, has been reported only from Japan and Sarawak (Bruce, Reference Bruce1965; Sakai, Reference Sakai1976). More detailed descriptions of both P. nacreus and P. vigil can be found in Sakai (Reference Sakai1939) and Dai & Yang (Reference Dai and Yang1984) and the key published by Sakai (Reference Sakai1976) easily distinguishes all three species in the genus.

Knowledge about the benthic invertebrate fauna of key economic areas of Western Australia is poor, especially when compared with that about areas of similar latitudes in other parts of Australia (Human & McDonald, Reference Human and McDonald2009). Published results of recent surveys, such as those of Poore et al. (Reference Poore, McCallum and Taylor2008) and McEnnulty et al. (Reference McEnnulty, Gowlett-Holmes, Williams, Althaus, Fromont, Poore, O'Hara, Marsh, Kott, Slack-Smith, Alderslade, Kitahara and McEnnulty2011), illustrate this paucity of information while serving to redress this situation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Mrs Lee Betterridge and Miss Stacey Osborne (both WAM) for their assistance with specimen processing. Funding for expeditions was provided by WAMSI for Node 3 Project 3.1.1: Deepwater Communities at Ningaloo Marine Park; AIMS, GA, CERF; and Woodside Energy Pty Ltd for Woodside Collection Project (Kimberley) 2008–2011 without whom the specimens might never have been collected.

References

REFERENCES

Alcock, A. (1899) Materials for a carcinological fauna of India. No. 4. The Brachyura Cyclometopa. Part II. A revision of the Cyclometopa with an account of the families Portunidæ, Cancridæ and Corystidæ. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 68, 1–104.Google Scholar
Bruce, A.J. (1965) On the portunid crab Podophthalamus minabensis Sakai, 1962. Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden 40, 287–291.Google Scholar
Crosnier, A. and Thomassin, B. (1974) Sur des crabes de la famille des Portunidae (Crustacea Decapoda) nouveaux pour Madagascar ou rares. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 241, 1097–1118.Google Scholar
Dai, A.-Y. and Yang, S.-I. (1984) Crabs of the China Seas. Beijing: China Ocean Press.Google Scholar
Fabricius, J.C. (1798) Supplementum Entomologiae Systematicae. Hafniae [Stockholm]: Proft et Storch.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, M.A. (1997) Part 7. Crustaceans: non-caridean decapods. In Walker, D.I. (ed.) Marine biological survey of the central Kimberley coast. Perth: University of Western Australia, pp. 91–95.Google Scholar
Hewitt, M.A. (2004) Crustacea (excluding Cirripedia) of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. In Jones, D.S. (ed.) Report on the results of the Western Australian Museum/Woodside Energy Ltd. Partnership to explore the marine biodiversity of the Dampier Archipelago 1998–2002. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement. Volume 66. Perth: Western Australian Museum, pp. 169–219.Google Scholar
Human, B.A. and McDonald, J.I. (2009) Knowledge review and gap analysis: resource condition monitoring in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. Coastal and Marine Resource Condition Monitoring—Scoping Project. Final NRM Report, Project 073007-Part 1. Fisheries Research Report. Perth: Department of Fisheries, Government of Western Australia, 192 pp.Google Scholar
Jonasson, K. (ed.) (2011) Petroleum in Western Australia. Perth: Department of Mines and Petroleum. Available at: http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/5592.aspx (accessed 1 September 2011).Google Scholar
Jones, D.S. (1990) Annotated checklist of marine decapod Crustacea from Shark Bay, Western Australia. In Berry, P.B., Bradshaw, S.D. and Wilson, B.R. (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France–Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee. Perth: Western Australian Museum, pp. 169–208.Google Scholar
Jones, D.S. (ed.) (2007) Crustaceans collected by the Western Australian Museum/Woodside Energy Ltd. Partnership to explore the marine biodiversity of the Dampier Archipelago 1998–2002. Perth: Western Australian Museum.Google Scholar
Lamarck, J.B.P.A. (1801) Systême des animaux sans vertèbres. Paris: Déterville.Google Scholar
Latreille, P.A. (1802) Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris: Dufart.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Volume 1. Holmiae [Stockholm]: Laurentii Salvii.Google Scholar
McEnnulty, F.R., Gowlett-Holmes, K.L., Williams, A., Althaus, F., Fromont, J., Poore, G.C.B., O'Hara, T.D., Marsh, L., Kott, P., Slack-Smith, S., Alderslade, P. and Kitahara, M.V. (2011) The deepwater megabenthic invertebrates on the western continental margin of Australia (100–1500 m depths): composition, distribution and novelty. In McEnnulty, F.R. (ed.) Deepwater megabenthos of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 80. Perth, Western Australian Museum, pp. 1–191.Google Scholar
Moosa, M.K. (1981) Crustacés Décapodes: Portunidae. In Résultats des campagnes MUSORSTOM. I. Philippines (18–28 Mars 1976), Volume 91. Paris: Éditions de l'Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer, pp. 141–150.Google Scholar
Ng, P.K.L. and Richer de Forges, B. (2007) The Brachyura of New Caledonia. In Payri, C.E. and Richer de Forges, B. (eds) Compendium of Marine Species of New Caledonia, Documents Scientifiques et Techniques, Volume II. Noumea, New Caledonia: IRD, pp. 315–331.Google Scholar
Poore, G.C.B., McCallum, A.W. and Taylor, J. (2008) Decapod Crustacea from the continental margin of southwestern and central Western Australia: preliminary identifications of 524 species from FRV Southern Surveyor voyage SS10-2005. Museum Victoria Science Report 11, 1–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafinesque, C.S. (1815) Analyse de la Nature, ou Tableau de l'Univers et des Corps Organisés. Palermo: L'Imprimerie de Jean Barravecchia.Google Scholar
Sakai, T. (1939) Studies on the Crabs of Japan IV. Brachygnatha, Brachyrhyncha. Tokyo: Yokendo Co., Ltd.Google Scholar
Sakai, T. (1961) New species of crabs from the collection of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Crustaceana 3, 131–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, T. (1976) Crabs of Japan and the adjacent seas. Volume l. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.Google Scholar
Stephenson, W. and Campbell, B. (1960) The Australian portunids (Crustacea: Portunidae). IV: remaining genera. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 11, 73–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNESCO (2011) Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley and Australia's Ningaloo Coast inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Volume 2011. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/765 (accessed 1 September 2011).Google Scholar
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Podophthalmus nacreus Alcock, 1899, male, 24.7 × 13.5 (WAM C42403), from Ningaloo Reef, dorsal view (A) and ventral view of right cheliped (B). Podophthalmus vigil (Fabricius, 1789), male, 127.9 × 52.1 (WAM C11711), from Exmouth Gulf, dorsal view (C) and dorsal view of right cheliped (D). Scale bars: A = 10 mm; B&D = 5 mm; C = 20 mm.