A New Record of Symbiotic Crab ( Harrovia elegans de Man, 1887) from the Gulf of Mannar, India
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A New Record of Symbiotic Crab (Harrovia elegans de Man, 1887) from the Gulf of Mannar, India Shilpa Jose 1 & Ranjeet Kutty 2 Received: 6 November 2019 / Revised: 19 February 2020 / # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The present study deals with the first record of symbiotic crab Harrovia elegans de Man 1887 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pilumnidae) collected from Tuticorin and Mandapam regions of Gulf of Mannar during February 2019. This crab species affiliates to family Pilumnidae, under the Decapoda infra-order Brachyura and is for the first time reported from the Indian mainland. The present specimens (One adult male, one adult female and a sub-adult) were collected from a depth of 5 m and showing symbiotic association with the crinoids, Comanthus wahlbergii. Although widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region, this is the first report of this species from the Indian mainland. Keywords Harrovia elegans . Brachyuran crab . Crinoids . Symbiosis . Gulf of Mannar
Introduction Brachyuran crabs represent one of the most diverse groups among crustaceans constituting nearly 7000 described species from 93 families that are distributed in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats (Ng et al. 2008; de Grave et al. 2009; Ahyong et al. 2011). A total of 62 families and 361 genera have been reported from Indian waters (Trivedi et al. 2018). Many of them have shown to display specific animal associations, especially with marine benthic invertebrates (Castro 1989). Genus Harrovia represents a brachyuran group of crabs belonging to the family Pilumnidae and subfamily Eumedoninae that are obligate symbiont of crinoids and represented in seven described species. They are predominantly confined to tropical waters of the Indian Ocean. This genus is also characteristically symbionts with crinoids (Lim and Ng 1988). They are characterised by their unnoticeable small size and cryptic colouration (Castro 1989). They can be recognised by the two prominent tooth-like anterolateral spines and the presence of dark bands on the carapace. H. elegens has
* Ranjeet Kutty [email protected] 1
School of Ocean Science and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, Kerala PIN – 682 506, India
2
Department of Aquatic Environment Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, Kerala PIN – 682 506, India
previously been reported from Japan, Mergui archipelago, Northern Arabian Sea, Andaman Islands of India (de Man 1887; Tirmizi and Kazmi 1982; Dev Roy and Nandi 2012). The present study reports the first record of the species Harrovia elegans from the Indian mainland.
Material and Methods One female specimen (CL-6.78 mm, CW-7.67 mm) was collected from Alanthalai (8° 79.111’ N and 78° 16.972′ E) and another male specimen (CL-8.22 mm, CW-8.86 mm) and a sub-adult (CL-3.87 mm, CW-4.18 mm) were collected from Vethalai, Mandapam (9° 46.166’ N and 79° 21.444′ E) in the South East coast of India (Fig. 1) during February 2019. Crinoids and their symbionts were hand collected by SCUBA diving at a
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