Sicyonia ingentis ( Burkenroad, 1938 )

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 25-26

Sicyonia ingentis ( Burkenroad, 1938)

(Pl. 1A)

Eusicyonia ingentis Burkenroad, 1938: 88 , figs. 31–34. — Anderson & Lindner 1945: 318.

Sicyonia ingentis . — Word & Charwat 1976:19. — Wicksten 1980c: 360. — Pérez Farfante 1985: 69, figs. 52, 57–60. — Hendrickx 1996: 94, fig.48, pl. 2B. — Pérez Farfante & Kensley 1997: 156.— Wicksten & Hendrickx 2003: 58.

Diagnosis. Rostrum longer than cornea of eye, with 3 dorsal, 2–3 apical teeth. Carapace with dorsomedial carina bearing small tooth posterior to mid-carapace, with antennal tooth, hepatic spine; postorbital, hepatic grooves; hepatic, branchiocardiac carinae. Stylocerite longer than eye. Scaphocerite with lateral tooth exceeding blade, blade rounded. Third maxilliped slender, setose. Pereopods 1–3 chelate, third longest of them; pereopods 4, 5 with simple dactyls. Abdominal somite 1 with small dorsal tooth on anterior margin, all abdominal somites with vertical grooves, dorsomedial carinae. Pleura of abdominal somites 1–3 rounded to slightly pointed, pleura of somites 4–6 ending in sharp posterolateral teeth. Abdominal somite 6 with carina ending in sharp point. Telson shorter than uropods, with deep median groove, pair small subterminal spines. Total length 157–180 mm.

Color in life. Reddish-brown, bases of pereopods banded with brick red, distal parts of pereopods yellow; light vertical yellow lines along margins of first to fourth abdominal pleura.

Habitat and depth. Usually sandy substrates, but also on shell or mud, 5–307 m , in California, most abundant at 55–82 m.

Range. Monterey Bay , California to Maria Madre I., Nayarit, Mexico , including central and southern Gulf of California. Type locality off east coast of Cedros I., Baja California .

Remarks. Holthuis (1952c) validated the use of the generic name Sicyonia instead of Eusicyonia .

It seems odd that Schmitt (1921) made no mention of S. ingentis in his work on decapods of California. Today, S. ingentis is commonly taken in trawls off southern California and has at times supported a commercial fishery. The abundance of the species has varied over the past 30 years (D. Cadien, Los Angeles County Sanitation district, pers. comm.)