Pasiphaea pacifica Rathbun, 1902

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 39

Pasiphaea pacifica Rathbun, 1902

( Fig. 9F– I)

Pasiphaea pacifica Rathbun, 1902a: 905 ; 1904: 20, fig. 2. — Schmitt 1921: 29, fig. 14. — Kobyakova 1937: 97, fig. 1. — Goodwin 1952: 393. — Kobyakova 1967: 20. — Word & Charwat 1976: 209. — Butler 1980: 55. — Krygier & Pearcy 1981: 79. — Wicksten 1982b: 245; 2002: 134. — Hendrickx & Estrada-Navarrete 1989: 111; 1996: 93, fig. 59.

Diagnosis. Exoskeleton thin. Postfrontal tooth directed anteriorly, acute. Carapace with dorsal carina extending nearly to posterior margin, with strong branchiostegal tooth and supporting carina, lateral carina extending from antennal region posteriorly. Stylocerite longer than eye. Scaphocerite with lateral tooth exceeding blade. Flagella of both pairs antennae very long when intact. Third maxilliped setose, shorter than first pereopod. Pereopods 1, 2 chelate, chelae slender. Fingers of chela of pereopod 1 crossing. Pereopod 2 with spine on carpus, row of spinules on merus. Pereopod 3 slender, thread-like. Pereopod 4 short, with flat dactyl. Pereopod 5 longer than pereopod 4, with flat, setose dactyl. Abdominal somites 2–6 with dorsal carina, pleura rounded to blunt. Telson with dorsal groove, deep posterior notch, shorter than uropods. Male total length 81 mm, female 73 mm.

Color in life. Translucent, with scattered red chromatophores, especially on gastric region, dorsal midline of abdominal somites 3–6, telson, uropods.

Habitat and depth. Epipelagic, 0–1076 m but usually between 75–500 m, may be caught in bottom trawls ( Krygier & Pearcy 1981).

Range. Australia, Siberia, Alaska to Gulf of California , South Africa. Type locality off Point Sur, California .