Marine Species Identification Portal : Indian Ocean lobsterette

Wood-Mason, 1872

Diagnosis:
Rostrum with one pair of lateral teeth (one tooth on either margin). No post supraorbital spine on carapace. Distance between supraorbital spines and gastric tubercle less than half distance between gastric tubercle and cervical groove. Abdominal somites without any trace of mid-dorsal carina. Anterior margin of pleuron of second abdominal somite without a spine, but ending in a sharp tip. Telson without an erect dorsal spine. Exopod of uropod with diaeresis.

Type:
Type locality: "dredged in from 260 to 300 fathoms [ = 476=550 m] about 25 miles off Ross Island on the eastern coast of the Andamans", Andaman Sea, India. Holotype in ZSI, no. 1404, in alcohol, condition poor.

Geographical Distribution:
Indo-West Pacific region from the Gulf of Aden and East Africa to Japan (Sagami Bay to Tosa Bay), Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Western Australia.

Habitat and Biology:
Deep sea between 170 and over 1060 m, usually between 500 and 750 m. On soft muddy substrates.

Size:
Maximum body length 15 cm, common around 10 cm. Carapace length: male 2.2-7.1 cm; female 1.4-7 cm; ovigerous females 4.2-7 cm.

Interest to Fisheries:
So far none, but perhaps of potential interest. Crosnier and Jouannic (1973:13) reported small catches in exploratory trawling off Madagascar (1/2 kg per hour or less), but consider that the species "paraît présenter peu d'intérêt" for commercial fishery.

Indian Ocean lobsterette (Nephropsis stewarti)