| Munida rugosa | |
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| Species: | M. rugosa |
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| Munida rugosa (Fabricius, 1775) | |
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Munida rugosa, commonly known as the rugose squat lobster or plated lobster, is a species of decapod crustacean found in the north east Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
There has been confusion over the nomenclature of certain members of the genus Munida for some time but in 1986, A. L. Rice and Michèle de Saint Laurent examined the literature and specimens in collections and determined that there were four species involved. They determined that the correct names were Munida rugosa (Fabricius, 1775), M. tenuimana G. O. Sars, 1872, M. intermedia A. Milne Edwards & Bouvier, 1899, and M. sarsi Huus, 1935. The first three species occur in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea while M. sarsi is found only in the Atlantic. [2] The name M. bamffia was used extensively in the 19th century and early 20th century but it seems to have been used for two species, M. intermedia and M. rugosa. The specific epithet "bamffius" was itself an error as Thomas Pennant was naming his newly described species after the town of Banff in Scotland near where his specimen was found. [2]
M. rugosa is orange with transverse bands of darker colour on the carapace and abdomen. It is up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long but like other members of the genus, it folds its abdomen beneath its cephalothorax. The carapace including the rostrum is about 30 millimetres (1.2 in) long. The carapace has a few spines on the back edge and the rostrum has a single central spine, flanked by two shorter spines above the eyes. [3] The thread-like antennae are slightly shorter than the first pair of appendages which are tipped by long narrow white pincers. The next three pairs of limbs also have white tips and are used for walking. The fifth pair is particularly thin and is usually held underneath the margins of the carapace. [4] The eyes are relatively small in this species and the morphology varies over its range. More southerly specimens are more spiny, have more setae on the abdomen and have longer, more slender limbs. [2]
M. rugosa is found in the western Mediterranean Sea, around Madeira, in the north eastern Atlantic Ocean, in the North Sea and adjacent continental waters north of 25°N. [1] at depths of up to 150 metres (490 ft), typically in cracks or under boulders. [3]
Gametogenesis is followed by spawning, larval release and larval settling. The eggs are carried in the female's brood patch and the larvae are released at the most favourable season for their survival when there is the most particulate food available. [5] In a study of M. rugosa from the west of Scotland, it was found that 86% of the females carrying embryos had mated with more than one male. [6]
It has been found that some larger males exhibit sexual dimorphism in that their claws become arched rather than being straight. This seems to be a form of sexual selection and it may be that such chela are more able to inflict puncture wounds when males are interacting in competition for females. [7]
Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongside groups including the hermit crabs and mole crabs. They are distributed worldwide in the oceans, and occur from near the surface to deep sea hydrothermal vents, with one species occupying caves above sea level. More than 900 species have been described, in around 60 genera. Some species form dense aggregations, either on the sea floor or in the water column, and a small number are commercially fished.
Nephrops norvegicus, known variously as the Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, langoustine or scampi, is a slim, orange-pink lobster which grows up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is now the only extant species in the genus Nephrops, after several other species were moved to the closely related genus Metanephrops. It lives in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, and parts of the Mediterranean Sea, but is absent from the Baltic Sea and Black Sea. Adults emerge from their burrows at night to feed on worms and fish.
Porcelain crabs are decapod crustaceans in the widespread family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crabs. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They are delicate, readily losing limbs when attacked, and use their large claws for maintaining territories. They first appeared in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic epoch, 145-152 million years ago.
Palinurus elephas is a commonly caught species of spiny lobster from the East Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Its common names include European spiny lobster, crayfish or cray, crawfish, common spiny lobster, Mediterranean lobster and red lobster.
Acanthacaris is a genus of deep-water lobsters. It contains two species, A. caeca and A. tenuimana, and is the only genus in the subfamily Neophoberinae.
Galathea squamifera, the black squat lobster, or Montagu's plated lobster, is a species of squat lobster that lives in the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
Galathea is one of the largest genera of squat lobsters, containing 70 currently recognised species. Most species of Galathea live in shallow waters.
Galathea intermedia is a species of squat lobster found in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, as far north as Troms, Norway, south to Dakar and the Mediterranean Sea.
Galathea strigosa is a species of squat lobster found in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, from the Nordkapp to the Canary Islands, and in the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea. It is edible, but not fished commercially. It is the largest squat lobster in the northeast Atlantic, reaching a length of 90 millimetres (3.5 in), or a carapace length of 53 mm (2.1 in), and is easily identified by the transverse blue stripes across the body.
Munida is the largest genus of squat lobsters in the family Munididae, with over 240 species.
Scyllarides latus, the Mediterranean slipper lobster, is a species of slipper lobster found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is edible and highly regarded as food, but is now rare over much of its range due to overfishing. Adults may grow to 1 foot (30 cm) long, are camouflaged, and have no claws. They are nocturnal, emerging from caves and other shelters during the night to feed on molluscs. As well as being eaten by humans, S. latus is also preyed upon by a variety of bony fish. Its closest relative is S. herklotsii, which occurs off the Atlantic coast of West Africa; other species of Scyllarides occur in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific. The larvae and young animals are largely unknown.
Eumunida picta is a species of squat lobster found in the deep sea. The species is strongly associated with reefs of Lophelia pertusa, a deep-water coral, and with methane seeps. It is abundant in the western Atlantic Ocean, where it is found from Massachusetts to Colombia.
Allogalathea elegans is a species of squat lobster that is sometimes kept in marine aquariums. Despite their common name, they are more closely related to hermit crabs than lobsters.
Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow. The larvae of crustaceans often bear little resemblance to the adult, and there are still cases where it is not known what larvae will grow into what adults. This is especially true of crustaceans which live as benthic adults, more-so than where the larvae are planktonic, and thereby easily caught.
Plesionida is a genus of squat lobsters in the family Munididae. As of 2017, it contains the following species:
Inachus phalangium, Leach's spider crab, is a species of crabs from the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It is up to 20.5 mm (0.81 in) wide, and is very similar to other species in the genus Inachus.
The Galatheoidea are a superfamily of decapod crustaceans comprising the porcelain crabs and some squat lobsters. Squat lobsters within the three families of the superfamily Chirostyloidea are not closely related to the squat lobsters within the Galatheoidea. The fossil record of the superfamily extends back to the Middle Jurassic genus Palaeomunidopsis.
The Munididae are a family of squat lobsters, taxonomically separated from the family Galatheidae in 2010.
Geryon trispinosus is a species of crab that lives in deep water in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Munida quadrispina is a species of squat lobster. It was originally described to science by James E. Benedict in 1902. This and other species of squat lobsters are sometimes referred to as "pinch bugs".
