Periclimenes, COSTA, 1844

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 : 474

GENUS PERICLIMENES COSTA, 1844

Remarks: Periclimenes is a speciose genus; Okuno & Mitsuhashi (2003) considered the genus to include 174 valid nominal species, most of which are commensal with scleractinian corals or their associated invertebrates, and a few of which are now known from deep (more than 100 m) waters ( Hayashi & Ohtomi, 2001). The genus is largely circumtropical, and, although most records are for specimens collected in relatively shallow waters, the genus has been found as deep as 1285 m (see Chace & Bruce, 1993; Poore, 2004: 95). Bergquist et al. (2003) listed, in an appendix, several decapod taxa from the Bush Hill and GC234 sites (cold seeps) in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and included ‘ Periclimenes sp. ’ among the taxa observed. No specimens were collected. To date, only one nominal species of this genus is known from hydrothermal vents off Japan (see below).