Sergia robusta

Martin, Joel W. & Haney, Todd A., 2005, Decapod crustaceans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: a review through 2005, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (4), pp. 445-522 : 457-458

SERGIA CF. ROBUSTA ( SMITH, 1882)

Type locality: western North Atlantic Ocean, United States, Massachusetts, off Martha’s Vineyard .

Known range: ‘Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Surinam, North Sea, Faroe Islands, off Bermuda, Mediterranean, Cape Verde Islands to Congo and Angola’ ( Pérez Farfante & Kensley, 1997: 200) (but see discussion in Froglia & Gramitto, 2000, and Martin, Wishner & Graff, 2005).

Occurrence at vents or seeps: See below.

Material: Vent material restricted to: eastern Caribbean Sea , Kick’em Jenny Volcano ; 12°18.076′N 61°88.25′W; Ronald H. Brown cruise RB-03-03, Eastern Oceanics Remotely Operated Vehicle, Dive 3; 261 m; 16 March 2003; LACM CR 2003 - 010.3 (1 damaged individual); additional material in the private collection of K. Wishner .

Remarks: The identification of the single specimen from the Kick’em Jenny Volcano reported by Martin et al. (2005) was tentative, and there is some controversy over the accepted number of species and their biogeographical ranges in this genus (see Discussion in Martin et al., 2005). Martin et al. (2005) noted that if the species from the Kick’em Jenny submarine volcano is indeed S. robusta , then this would be well within the range of that species as given by Pérez Farfante & Kensley (1997) but not as given by Vereshchaka (1994).

This species, the first reported penaeoid from a hydrothermal (as opposed to cold seep) locality, was found with two other caridean species on the floor of the submerged volcano’s caldera. It is believed that all three species may be trapped there by toxic gases issuing from the sediment of the caldera during their diel migrations (Martin et al., 2005; Wishner et al., 2005).