| Metopograpsus messor | |
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| Metopograpsus messor | |
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| Species: | M. messor |
| Binomial name | |
| Metopograpsus messor (Forsskål, 1775) | |
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Metopograpsus messor is a species of grapsid crab that lives in mangroves from East Africa to Fiji.
It grows up to 30 millimetres (1.2 in) wide. [3] The carapace and legs are mottled brownish green, while the claws are brownish red. [4]
The distribution of M. messor extends from East Africa, along the coast of the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and at least as far east as Fiji. [5] Knowledge of its distribution has been clouded by confusion between M. messor and M. thukuhar , which can only be told apart by detailed examination, [5] but there are reports of M. messor as far east as the Hawaiian Islands.
M. messor lives in mangroves (including Avicennia marina and Sonneratia alba ), as well as on rocky shores. [4] It lives under rotting wood, and is capable of climbing trees. [4]
Metopograpsus messor was first described under the name Cancer messor by Peter Forsskål in 1775, in his Descriptiones Animalium, Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium, based on material he collected at Suez. [6]
The year 1775 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Mangrove crabs are crabs that live among mangroves, and may belong to many different species and even families. They have been shown to be ecologically significant in many ways. They keep much of the energy within the forest by burying and consuming leaf litter. Along with burrowing in the ground, at high tide and in the face of predators these crustaceans can climb trees to protect themselves. The hermit crab and the mangrove crab are the only crustaceans that can climb trees as a defense mechanism. Furthermore, their feces may form the basis of a coprophagous food chain contributing to mangrove secondary production.
Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.
The Schokari sand racer is a species of lamprophiid snake found in parts of Asia and Africa. Psammophis schokari aegyptius has been elevated to species status. Many people refer to snakes in the genus Psammophis as colubrids, but this is now known to be incorrect—they were once classified in the Colubridae, but our more sophisticated understanding of the relationships among the groups of snakes has led herpetologists to reclassify Psammophis and its relatives into Lamprophiidae, a family more closely related to Elapidae than to Colubridae.
The golden trevally, also known as the golden kingfish, banded trevally or king trevally, is a species of large marine fish classified in the jack and horse mackerel family Carangidae, and the only member of the monospecific genus Gnathanodon. The golden trevally is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ranging from South Africa in the west to Central America in the east, extending to Japan in the north and Australia in the south. The species predominantly occupies inshore waters where it inhabits both reef and sandy substrates. The golden trevally is easily distinguished from its relatives by its fleshy, rubbery lips and unique colouration, which ranges from bright yellow with black bars as a juvenile to a golden-silvery colour as an adult. It is known to grow to 120 cm in length and 15 kg in weight. The golden trevally schools as a juvenile, often closely following larger objects including sharks and jellyfish. The species uses its protractile jaws to suck out prey from the sand or reef, and consumes a variety of fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Spawning aggregations gather at night at different times of the year throughout its range. The golden trevally is a considerable constituent of several Middle Eastern fisheries and being of minor importance to many others, with a worldwide annual catch of 1187 t to 3475 t recorded between 2000 and 2010. The golden trevally is a popular gamefish, taken by bait, lure, fly and also spear throughout its range. Several Asian countries currently farm the fish in caged aquaculture. Due to their brilliant colouration, juveniles are popular in marine aquaria.
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Uromastyx aegyptia is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to North Africa and the Middle East.
Eriphia verrucosa, sometimes called the warty crab or yellow crab, is a species of crab found in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean from Brittany to Mauritania and the Azores. Individual crabs have been caught as far north as Cornwall. Formerly a frequent species in the Black Sea, it has decreased in numbers since the 1980s and is now listed in the Ukrainian Red Data Book of endangered species.
Salvia merjamie is a herbaceous perennial plant that is native to the east African highlands from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and also across the Red Sea in Yemen. It grows between 6,000 and 13,000 feet elevation in grasslands, forest edges, rocky outcrops, basalt slopes, and fallow fields. The specific epithet merjamie is derived from meryamiye, the Arabian common name for the plant, which is shared with other local Salvia species such as Salvia lanigera. The Maasai common name for S. merjamie is Naingungundeu, meaning that the plant smells of rats, though the variety that is common in horticulture is named 'Mint Sauce' and is described as having a strong minty aroma. S. merjamie shares a similar distribution with Salvia nilotica, though they are not known to hybridize.
The reticulate whipray or honeycomb stingray is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It inhabits coastal waters in the western Indian Ocean including the Red Sea, Natal and the Arabian Sea; also a Lessepsian transmigrant in the eastern Mediterranean. A large species reaching 2 m (6.6 ft) in width, the reticulate whipray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc and an extremely long tail without fin folds. Both its common and scientific names refer to its ornate dorsal color pattern of many small, close-set dark spots or reticulations on a lighter background. However, the reticulate whipray is only one of several large spotted stingrays in the Indo-Pacific which, coupled with the variability of its coloration with age and locality, has resulted in a great deal of taxonomic confusion.
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Cyrtophora citricola, also known as the tropical tent-web spider, is an orb-weaver spider in the family Araneidae. It is found in Asia, Africa, Australia, Costa Rica, Hispaniola, Colombia, and Southern Europe. In 2000, it was discovered in Florida. C. citricola differs from many of its close relatives due its ability to live in a wide variety of environments. In North America and South America, the spider has caused extensive damage to agricultural operations.
Metopograpsus is a genus of crabs, containing the following extant species:
Dromia dormia, the sleepy sponge crab or common sponge crab, is the largest species of sponge crab. It grows to a carapace width of 20 cm (8 in) and lives in shallow waters across the Indo-Pacific region.
Cavolinia tridentata is a species of sea butterflies, floating and swimming sea snails or sea slugs, pelagic marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cavoliniidae.
Coenobita scaevola is a species of terrestrial hermit crab from the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
Tergipes tergipes is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tergipedidae.
Galium paschale is a species of flowering plant in the genus Galium found in south-eastern Europe and Turkey.
The thukuhar shore-crab, also known as alamihi crab, is a species of crab that lives in mangroves all over from Africa to Fiji.
Ashtoret lunaris, the yellow moon crab, spotted moon crab or box crab, is an Indo-Pacific species of carnivorous crab which is a member of the family Matutidae. It has been recorded in the eastern Mediterranean since 2010, probably reaching that sea through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea by Lessepsian migration.
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