Enoplometopus occidentalis ( Randall, 1840 )

Poupin, Joseph, 2003, Reef lobsters Enoplometopus A. Milne Edwards, 1862 from French Polynesia, with a brief revision of the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Enoplometopidae), Zoosystema 25 (4), pp. 643-664 : 658-659

Enoplometopus occidentalis ( Randall, 1840)

Nephrops occidentalis Randall, 1840: 139 (type locality: probably Hawaii).

Enoplometopus occidentalis – Rathbun 1906: 900 (Hawaii). — Bouvier 1915: 182 [5] ( Mauritius). — Holthuis 1946: 74 ( Ambon). — Barnard 1950: 532 (Natal). — Gordon 1968: 95 ( Mombasa). — Tinker 1965: 40 (Hawaii). — Healy & Yaldwyn 1970: 56 (Heron Island). — Crosnier 1977: 237 ( La Réunion, Madagascar). — Daum 1982: 266 (Sydney Harbor). — Miyake 1982: 78, pl. 26 ( Japan). — Debelius 1984: 36, 37 (photograph). — Fielding 1985: 86 (Hawaii). — Takeda 1986: 106 ( Japan). — Fielding & Robinson 1987: 80 (Hawaii). — Nomura et al. 1988: 42 ( Japan). — Chan & Yu 1993: 102 (Taiwan). — Allen & Steene 1994: 145 (photograph). — Debelius & Baensch 1994: 591 (photograph). — Colin & Arneson 1995: 225 (Hawaii). — Gosliner et al. 1996: 220, photograph 796 (Hawaii). — Chan 1998: 998, 1000 (western Pacific). — Hoover 1998: 241 (Hawaii). — Debelius 1999: 205 (Hawaii).

Enoplometopus (Enoplometopus) occidentalis – Holthuis 1983: 294 (Amirante Islands, Ambon, Hawaii). — Hayashi 1995: 338, pl. 91-1 ( Japan).

Enoplometopus pictus – Miers 1880: 380 ( Ambon). — De Man 1888: 486 ( Ambon) [non Enoplometopus pictus A. Milne Edwards, 1862 ].

Enoplometopus longirostris De Man 1888: 488 ( Ambon) ; De Man 1921: 94; 1922: 50 (Java Sea, Banda Sea). — Holthuis 1946: 84 (Celebes, Moluccas) [ E. longirostris is a postlarval stage, possibly of E. occidentalis ; cf. Holthuis 1983].

Enoplometopus sp. – Colin & Arneson 1995: 225 ( Indonesia).

Non Enoplometopus occidentalis – Kubo 1952: 97 (= possibly E. debelius Holthuis, 1983 ). — George & George 1979: 78 (= Enoplometopus holthuisi Gordon, 1968 ).

Some additional references can be found in Barnard (1950) and Holthuis (1946, 1983).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — West Indian Ocean. Madagascar, S of Madagascar, 26°05’S, 44°50’E, trawl 100 m,?1970-1973, coll. R. Plante, det. A. Crosnier, 1 ♂ juvenile cl 13 mm, bl 41 mm ( MNHN As 628). — La Réunion, 1973, coll. Y. Plessis, det. T. Monod, 1 ♂ cl 25 mm, bl 80 mm, 1 ♀ cl 20.5 mm, bl 63 mm, 1 ovig. ♀ cl 28 mm, bl 87 mm ( MNHN As 272) ; trap? 350 m, II.1974, coll. P. Guezé, det. A. Crosnier, 1 ♂ cl 33.5 mm, bl 105 mm ( MNHN As 555), net 100 m, 1.VII.1973, 1 ♂ cl 39.5 mm, bl 121.5 mm ( MNHN As 559). — Mauritius, Port Louis, 1910, coll. P. Carié, 1 ♂ cl 22.5 mm, bl 72 mm ( MNHN As 52), 1913, coll. P. Carié, 1 ♂ cl 19 mm, bl 62 mm (dry, MNHN As 53), 1910, coll. P. Carié, 1 ♀ cl 32.5 mm, bl 102 mm ( MNHN As 54) .

West and central Pacific. Philippines, Manilla, 1980 “aquarium,?Manille”, coll. C. Vadon, 1 ♂ cl 23 mm, bl 72.5 mm ( MNHN As 557). — New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, Ouvéa , “îlot Bagat”, dive 9-11 m, 18.XI.1991, coll. J.-L. Menou, 2 ♀♀ cl 14-16.5 mm, bl 44-52 mm ( MNHN As 577) ; coral grounds, 21.III.1990, coll. Tirard, 1 ♀ cl 38 mm, bl 118 mm ( MNHN As 566). — Hawaii, coll. Baillieu, 1 ♂ cl 43 mm, bl 130 mm ( MNHN As 55) .

DISTRIBUTION. — West Indian Ocean: South Africa (Natal), Kenya (Mombassa), Madagascar, La Réunion, Mauritius (Port Louis), Seychelles ( Amirante Islands ). Indonesia: Java sea, Celebes (Menado), Moluccas ( Ambon, Banda, Ternate); East Australia: Great Barrier reef (Heron Island), Sydney harbor. West Pacific : Japan, Taiwan; Central Pacific: Hawaii Islands ( Hawaii , Maui , Oahu ). Deep distribution: 0-100 m. On hard bottoms.

DIAGNOSIS. — Rostrum with two to four spines on lateral margin. Carapace armed with five median (anteriormost blunt), one postcervical, two intermediate, one supraocular, and three or four lateral spines. Chela broad and compressed, 2.8-3.8 times as long as wide, upper and lower faces of palm with longitudinal rows of tubercles; outer margin of dactyl with two or three spines on distal part and unarmed or with low blunt tubercles on proximal part. Second pereopod with dactyl 0.3 times as long as propodus; carpus and merus with distoventral spine. Pleura of abdominal somites II-V rounded or bluntly pointed. Male first pleopod with distal margin straight. Telson with one lateral and three distolateral spines, distalmost spine the largest.

COLORATION

Body orange red with white at tip of spines. Lateral face of carapace with median white spot circled in dark orange. Similar spots on dorsal and lateral faces of abdomen. Chela orange with tubercles darker; fingers banded in light and dark orange. Ambulatory legs orange with narrow white or pale orange bands ( Debelius 1984; Chan & Yu 1993; Debelius & Baensch 1994; Hoover 1998).

REMARKS

Enoplometopus occidentalis is the most common species found in the Indo-west Pacific. Several variations have been observed within the 14 specimens examined. Lateral margin of rostrum is usually armed with two or three spines but can have up to four spines on each margin on some specimens (♂ cl 13 mm, MNHN As 628; ♂ cl 23 mm, MNHN As 557). The armament of outer margin of dactyl of chela varies according to the size; it usually consists of two to three spines on distal part only, but on two large specimens (♂ cl 33.5 mm, MNHN As 555; ♂ cl 39.5 mm, MNHN As 559) the spines are also present on proximal part. Although upper and lower faces of the palm are typically tuberculated, the tubercles are absent in the smallest specimen (♂ cl 13 mm, MNHN As 628).