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.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda
Suborder Macrura Reptantia
Superfamily Nephropoidea
Family Nephropidae
Subfamily Thymopinae
Genus Nephropsis
Species Nephropsis stewarti

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Nephropsis stewarti Wood-Mason, 1872

Scientific synonyms and common names

Nephropsis stewarti Wood-Mason, 1872

Synonyms:
Nephropsis stewarti Wood-Mason, 1872, Proceedings Asiatic Society Bengal, 1872: 151. Specific name placed on the Official List of Specific names in Zoology in Opinion 559 (published in 1959).

FAO Names:
Indian Ocean lobsterette [English]
Langoustine indienne [French]
Cigala del Oceano Indico [Spanish]

Local Names:
AUSTRALIA: Stewart's scampi
JAPAN: Okina-ebi ( = old gentleman)
MOZAMBIQUE: Lagostim indiano

Crosnier, A. and C. Jouannic, 1973. Note d'information sur les prospections de la pente continentale malgache effectuées par le N.O. Vauban. Bathymétrie - Sédimentologie - Pêche au chalut. Documents scientifiques Centre Nosy-Bé ORSTOM, 42:1-18, pls 1-4,1 unnumbered plate

Fischer, W. and G. Bianchi (eds), 1984. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), vol. 5:pag.var.

Macpherson, E., 1990. Crustacea Decapoda: On a collection of Nephropidae from the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. Résultats des campagnes Musorstom. Volume 6. Mémoires Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, (Zool.), 145:289-329, figs 1-17

Wood-Mason, J., 1872. On Nephropsis Stewarti, a new genus and species of macrurous crustaceans, dredged in deep water off the eastern coast of the Andaman Islands. Proceedings Asiatic Society Bengal, 1872: 151.

No distribution map was available at OBIS the last time we checked. Retry now.

You can continue searching for Nephropsis stewarti on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia