Paracrangon echinata Dana, 1852

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 120

Paracrangon echinata Dana, 1852

( Fig. 29L)

Paracrangon echinatus Dana, 1852: 20 ; 1852b: 538, pl. 33, fig. 6. — Holmes 1900: 176, pl. 2, figs. 36, 37.

Paracrangon echinata . — Faxon 1895: 131. — Rathbun 1904: 103. — Schmitt 1921: 103, fig. 72. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 314. — Kobyakova 1937: 139. — Kozloff 1974: 164. — Butler 1980: 75, pl. 2D; 1995: 39, fig. 54; 2011: 246, fig. 2. — Jensen 2011: 246, fig. 2.

Diagnosis. Rostrum long, equal to carapace length in male, 0.6–0.8 times as long as carapace length in female, with one moderate dorsal tooth near middle; anterior margin with 1 tooth near apex, long curved tooth at base. Carapace with 4 median dorsal teeth on median carina, anterior teeth smaller than posterior; strong antennal tooth, massive, flared branchiostegal tooth, strong pterygostomian tooth; dorsolateral surfaces carinated forming irregular quadrangular teeth at angles of carinae; deep sulcus from base of posterior median tooth across cardiac region. Eyes of moderate size. Peduncle of antennule long, overreaching carpocerite, stylocerite short, apex rounded. Scaphocerite of second antenna not exceeding second segment of peduncle of antennule, blade exceeding lateral tooth. Third maxilliped long, slender, distal tooth on proximal segment, exopod present. Pereopod 1 about as long as third maxilliped, dactyl of subchela closing obliquely, merus with distal tooth. Pereopod 2 absent. Pereopods 3–5 similar, longer than pereopod 1, slender, dactyls with acute apices. Abdominal somites carinate posterior to somite 2, carina of somite 3 especially high, dorsolateral surfaces of pleura 1–5 each with 2 vertical sulci, pleura 1–5 having strong lateral teeth. Pleura of somite 6 with 2 median dorsal carinae, midlateral tooth, lower lateral, posteroventral, posterodorsal teeth. Pleura of male with lateral sternal teeth; in female, teeth absent. Telson with 2 median dorsal spines, 3 pairs dorsolateral spines. Male total length 44 m, female 65 mm.

Color in life. Light brownish gray, generally overlaid with small brown or black spots ( Butler 1980: pl. 2D), mottled brown and translucent or yellowish (K. Lee, pers. comm.).

Habitat and depth. Mixed or rocky bottoms, 7–201 m.

Range. Port Etches , Alaska to La Jolla, California; Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan to Korea Strait, Sagami Bay. Type locality Puget Sound .

Remarks. Live animals often assume the cataleptic position: resting with the pereopods against the bottom and the abdomen flexed upward at a nearly 45˚ angle. These well-camouflaged shrimp are ambush predators, catching gammarid amphipods, smaller carideans and other small prey. Jensen (2011: fig. 2) photographed their predatory activities.