A Zoea attributed to the Trapeziidae (Crustecea: Decapoda: Branchyura) from the Cape Verde Islands

              Rev. Acad. Canar. Cienc, XIV (Niims. 3-4), 213-217 (2002) (publicado en agosto de 2003)
A ZOEA ATTRIBUTED TO THE TRAPEZIIDAE (CRUSTACEA:
DECAPODA: BRACHYURA) FROM THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS.
J.A. Lindley1
, F. Hernandez2 and E. Tejera2
'Sir Mister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, The Hoe. PLYMOUTH, PL1 PB,
UK email: jal@pml.ac.uk
2Museo de Ciencias Naturales O.A.M.C, Fuente Morales s/n. Antiguo Hospital Civil. 38003 Santa Cruz de
Tenerife. Ap. correos 853, Tenerife, Spain, email: fatima@museosdetenerife.org
RESUMEN
Una larva zoea de braquiura con tres pares de espinas laterales en el caparazon y con
acusadas proyecciones dorso-laterales en el 4° y 5° segmento abdominal fue capturada en
muestreos realizados en las islas de Cabo Verde, durante el Proyecto Macaronesia 2000. El
ejemplar se hallaba en estado II y pertenece a la misma especie que las larvas halladas en
estado III y IV en el Gran Banco Meteor (rice & Williamson [9]). El ejemplar se describe
y su probable identificacion se discute.
Palabras clave: Oceano Atlantico, islas de Cabo Verde, plancton, Decapoda,
Trapeziidae, zoea II.
ABSTRACT
A brachyura zoea with three pairs of lateral spines on the carapace and prolonged
dorso-lateral projections on the 4th and 5th abdominal segments was taken in the
Macaronesia 2000 Programme samples from the Cape Verde Islands. The specimen was a
stage II zoea, apparently of the same species as specimens of stages III and IV known from
the Great Meteor Seamount (rice & Williamson [9]). The specimen is described here and
its probable identity is discussed.
Key words: Atlantic Ocean, Cape Verde Islands, plankton, Decapoda, Trapeziidae,
zoea II.
1.- INTRODUCTION
rice & Williamson [9] described unusual Brachyuran zoeas that they named ASM26
and attributed to either the Menippinae or the Trapezinae (then considered to be sub-fami-lies
of the Xanthidae), from the Great Meteor Seamount (30°N, 29°W). In addition to dor-sal,
rostral and lateral spines on the carapace, these specimens had a smaller second pair of
lateral spine placed more dorsally than the main pair and a very small pair below the mam
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pair. The first abdominal somite had a dorsal spine and somites 2-5 had prominent dorso-lateral
projections, which were produced into backward pointing spines on somites 4 and 5.
Somites 3-5 also had successively longer acute posterio-lateral spines. The specimens des-cribed
were stage III and stage IV zoeas.
The Macawnesia 2000 Programme included sampling in the Cape Verde Islands
(Cruise TFMCBM/98). Results of analysis of Decapoda from this cruise have been presented
by lindley & Hernandez [3 y 4] and lindley et al. [5]. Among the specimens examined
was a stage II zoea that appeared to be the same species as the specimens described by rice
& Williamson [9]. This specimen is described here to add to the descriptions of the two suc-ceeding
stages by those authors and their possible identity is discussed in the light of the
occurrence of specimens apparently belonging to the same species in two locations separa-ted
by 14° latitude.
2.- METHODS
The specimen (code number TFMCBM-DL000444) was collected in a sample taken
at station TFMCBMCV-24C98T (24°49'22"W & 16°38'54"N) at 15:55 h. (diurnal time) on
24th September 1998 with a triple WP-2 200um mesh net hauled from 1000 m to the surfa-ce.
The specimen was examined without dissection and is retained in the collection of the
Natural Sciences Museum of Tenerife (TFMC).
3.- RESULTS
3.1.- Description and comparison with ASM26
An anterior view of the cephalothorax and a dorsal view of the abdomen and poste-rior
view of the abdomen are shown in Fig 1. The carapace has rostral, dorsal and one major
pair of lateral spines with a pair of about half their length above and a smaller pair below.
The left major lateral spine had a small projection about about 1/3 of the distance from the
base to the tip similar to that shown on the equivalent right spine of the stage IV illustrated
by rice & Williamson [9]. The lowest pair of lateral spines projected beyond the eyes in
contrast with the stage IV. The dorsal spine on the first abdominal segment was more pro-minent
than that in the stage IV The dorso-lateral projections on somite 4 and 5 did not quite
reach the end of those somites and the posterio-lateral projections on somite 4 did not reach
the posterior margin of somite 5. In each case the projections extended beyond the somite
margins in stage IV The lateral spines on the telson were more prominent than were those
of the stage IV Some additional characters are summarised in Table I.
4.- DISCUSSION
The specimens described by rice & Williamson [9] were from the Great Meteor
Seamount which includes a plateau of <400m within which are areas of <300m and a mini-mum
depth of 275m (hesthagen, [2]). The Decapoda of the north-east Atlantic and adja-cent
seas and continental waters north of 25°N have been catalogued by udekem d'acoz
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[10]. He listed two species of Trapeziidae, both within the sub-family Domeciinae,
Coralliope parvula (A. Milne-Edwards, 1869) and Domecia acanthophora africana Guinot.
1964. The former occurs as far north as the Azores and the latter is known from the Canary
Islands and both occur in the Cape Verde Islands. The Menippinae would be included in the
Eriphiidae, three species of which are listed by udekem d' acoz (op. cit.), only two of which
occur in the Atlantic Ocean. Globopilumnus africanus (A. Milne Edwards, 1867) is found
in both the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands but is generally littoral and is not
recorded in depths greater than 35 m (gonzalez perez, [1]), so it is unlikely to occur over
the Great Meteor Seamount. The zoea stages of Eriphia verrucosa (Forskal, 1775) were des-cribed
by LUMAPvE & gozo [6]. They have slightly elongate dorso-lateral projections on the
fourth and fifth abdominal somites, but less elongate than those of the present specimen and
the stages described by rice & Williamson [9] and they lack the dorsal spine on the first
abdominal segments and the extra lateral carapace spines.
rice & Williamson [9] and rice [8] referred to the presence of a second pair of late-ral
spines in zoeas of Tetralia glaberrima (Herbst, 1790), a trapeziid, species as part of their
justification for referring ASM26 to the Trapezinae. Since then, the first zoea of the
Stenorhynchus lanceolatus (Brulle, 1837) (Majidae, Inachinae) has been described by paula
[7] with three subequal conical spines on the carapace, but ASM26 and the present speci-men
are clearly Xanthoidea rather than Majoidea. We therefore tentatively attribute the spe-cimens
to the Trapeziidae, probably Coraliope parvula as it is recorded as far north as the
Azores and has been recorded a greater depth (as deep as 355m) than Domecia acantho-phora
africana which is known only from the intertidal zone to 35m depth. The Great
Meteor Seamount includes a plateau at <400m depth.
5.-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special mention to Dr. Juan Jose Bacallado Aranega (Head of the Program) and to
Dr. Sebastian Jimenez Navarro for his collaboration in the Macaronesia 2000 Program.
6.-REFERENCES
[1] Gonzalez perez, J. a., 1995. Crustdceos Decdpodos de las Islas Canarias. Publicaciones
Turquesa. 1-282.
[2] hesthagen, i. h., 1970. On the near bottom plankton and benthic invertebrate fauna of
the Josephine Seamount and Great Meteor Seamount. "Meteor" Forschungsergeb. D 8,
61-70.
[3] lindley, j. a. & f. Hernandez, 1999. The occurrence in waters around the Canary and
Cape Verde Islands of Amphionides reynaudii, the sole species of the Order
Amphionidacea (Crustacea: Eucarida). Rev. Acad. Conor. Ciencias. XI. 1 13-119.
[4] lindley, j.a. & F. Hernandez, 2000. A previously undescribed zoea attributed to
Calcinus talismani (Crustacea: Decapoda: Diogenidae). Bocagiana, 201. 1-5.
[5] lindley, j.a., f. Hernandez, e. tejera, s. & jimenez. 2001 . Decapodos pelagicos (Ian as
y adultos) de las Islas de Cabo Verde (campana TFMCBM/98). Rev. Acad. Conor.
Cienc. XIII (4) 87-99.
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[6] lumare, f. & s. gozzo, 1972. Svillupo larvale del crostaceo Xanthidae Eripphia verru-cosa
(Forskal, 1775) in condizione di laboratorio. Boletine di Pesca, di Piscicoltura e
di Idrobiologia, 27, 185-209.
[7] paula, J., 1987. Planktonic stages of brachyuran crabs from the south-western Iberian
coast. (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). J. Nat. Hist. 21, 717-756.
[8] rice, a. L., 1980. Crab zoeal morphology and its bearing on the classification of the
Brachyura. Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. 35, 271-424.
[9] rice, a. l. & d. i. Williamson, 1977. Planktonic stages of the Crustacea Malacostraca
from Atlantic seamounts. "Meteor" Forschungsergeb. D. 26, 28-64.
[10] udekem d'acoz, c. d'.,1999. Inventaire et distribution des Crustaces Decapodes de
l'Atlantique nord-orientale, de la Mediterranee et des eaux continentales adjacent au
nord de 25°N. Patrimoines naturels (MNHN/SPN) 40, 383pp.
CHARACTER STAGE II STAGE III STAGE IV
Carapace length (mm) 0.75
Tip of dorsal spine to tip 2.0 3.5-3.7 4.7
of rostrum (mm)
Carapace width (between 1.5 2.4 2.8
tips of major lateral
spines) (mm)
Antenna 5-6 terminal or About 6 terminal Aesthetascs in
sub-terminal or sub-terminal groups of 4,2,4,2,
aesthetascs aesthetascs, very outer flagellum
small inner cut off at base
flagellum bud
Antennule Exopod > Vz Endopod slightly Spinous process
length of spinous less than Vi and endopod
process, with 3 spinous process, about 3A as long.
unequal terminal Exopod subequal, exopod
setae intermediate in
length with 3
unequal terminal
setae
Maxilliped 1 Exopod 6 terminal setae 8 terminal setae 10 terminal setae
Endopod setae 2,2,1,2,4 3,2,1,2,6 3,2,1,2,6
Basis setae 2,2,3,3 2,2,3,3 2,2,3,3
Maxilliped 2 Exopod 6 terminal seta 8 terminal setae 10 terminal setae
Endopod setae 1,1,3 1,1, 5 or 6 1,1, 5 or 6
Basis setae 3 (?) medial 4 medial 4 medial
Telson Posterior margin 3 long and 1 short 3 long and 2 short 3 long and 3 short
pairs of setae. pairs of setae. pairs of setae.
Table I. Trapezinae. Zoea stages II , III and IV. Dimensions and setation of appendages. Data for Stages III and IV
from RICE & WILLIAMSON [9].
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Figure 1. Zoea attributed to the Trapeziidae. (a) Frontal view, (b) Posterior view. Scale bar of 0.5 mm.
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