Marine Species Identification Portal : Pacific pincer lobster

Calman, 1913

Diagnosis:
Teeth on fingers of large cheliped placed in a single row and oriented in the same plane as the fingers themselves.

Type:
Type locality: "Off Yenoshima, Odawara Bay [ = off Enoshima near Odawara, Sagami Bay], Japan, 200 fms [= 366 m]" Type specimen in Zoological Museum of University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.

Geographical Distribution:
East coast of Japan between Sagami and Tosa Bays. A single pincer collected near New Caledonia (22°02'S 165°57'E; 800 m deep) may belong to the present species (Monod, 1973: 126, figs 37-39).

Habitat and Biology:
The species is known from depths between 366 and 700 m (the New Caledonian specimen from 800 m).

Size:
Total length 9 to 17.5 cm, carapace length between 4 and 6 cm.

Interest to Fisheries:
None so far. The species is rarely caught, and usually as single specimens. Also the great depths at which it occurs makes it less interesting for commercial exploitation.

Pacific pincer lobster (Thaumastocheles japonicus)