Distribution and abundance of species of Nematocarcinus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Nematocarcinidae) off western Mexico, eastern Pacific
Information related to deep-water species of decapod crustaceans is limited. This is essentially due to sampling problems and cost of operating gear in deep water, below 500 m depth. A large series of explorating surveys organized between 1989 and 2014 of western Mexico in the eastern Pacific resulted in the capture of numerous samples of decapod crustaceans. Samples of deep-water caridean shrimps were obtained with a 2.35m-wide benthic sledge. Distribution and abundance of two species of the deep-water shrimp Nematocarcinus were analized. One or two species were captured in 33% of the samples obtained from between 122 and 2530 m depth. The first species, Nematocarcinus faxoni Burukovsky, 2001, was by far the most common (present in all samples containing Nematocarcinus) and the more abundant (1,972 individuals). It is distributed in the central and southern Gulf of California, off the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula, and to the south to 17º10’15”N. For N. faxoni, densities of up to 1,187 ind./ha are reported. Highest densities for this species occur between 901 and 1,100 m, and it is more frequently found between 1,301 and 1,500 m. Based on morphological characters observed in material examined and deposited at the "Smithsonian Institution", EEUU, including type material, N. agassizii is reinstated as a valid species, thus withdrawn from its synonymy with N. gracilipes Filhol, 1884. This second species, hopwever, is less frequent (in 10% of captures) and less abundant (192 individuals in total). Along the Mexican Pacific, N. agassizii presents a more restricted distribution, and it is found only off the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula. In N. agassizii, highest density is 246 ind./ha. Both species live below the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) that characterize the Mexican Pacific offshore waters. Nematocarcinus faxoni occurs in water with 0.11 a 1.60 ml O2/l, but it was not collected in localities where bottom oxygen concentrations were higher (up to 2.45 ml O2/l); N. agassizii was found in 0.11 a 0.76 ml O2/l. The two species co-occur in only 5 of the 58 stations where the genus was found.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements. Ship time aboard the R/V "El Puma" was provided by the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, UNAM (TALUD III), by the Coordinación de la Investigación Científica, UNAM (TALUD IV to XVI-B), and partly supported by CONACyT (project 179467 for the TALUD XV and XVI-B cruises). The TALUD project has received laboratory support from the DGAPA (PAPIIT IN-217306-3 and PAPIIT IN-203013-2) and from CONACyT (Project 31805-N for the TALUD IV to VII cruises; project 179467 for the TAL
Keywords:
western Mexico,
minimum oxygen zone,
Deep-water,
Shrimps,
Nematocarcinus,
abundance,
distribution
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Hendrickx
ME and
Hernandéz-Payan
JC
(2016). Distribution and abundance of species of Nematocarcinus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Nematocarcinidae) off western Mexico, eastern Pacific.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00015
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
14 Aug 2016;
Published Online:
02 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Michel E Hendrickx, UNAM, ICML, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, 82000, Mexico, michel@ola.icmyl.unam.mx