The stenopodidean shrimp Stenopus tenuirostris De Man, 1888 is reported from Natal waters for the first time. This record represents a considerable southward extension of this uncommon tropical species for the African sub-region

Emmerson, W.D.

Goy, J.W.

Koslowski, S

English

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260 Short Communication On the occurrence of Stenopus tenui-rostris De Man, 1888 in Natal waters W.O. Emmerson * Department of Zoology, University of Transkei, Private Bag X1, Umtata, Transkei J.W. Goy Department of Biology, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA S. Koslowski c/o Durban Corporation, Durban Received 8 JQlluary 1990; accepted 5 March 1990 The stenopodidean shrimp Slenopus lenuiroslris De Man, 1888 is reported from Natal waters for the first time. This record represents a considerable southward extension of this uncommon tropical species for the African sub· region. Die stenopodideaanse garnaal Slenopus lenuiroslris De Man, 1888 word vir die eerste keer uit Natalse waters opgeteken. Die aanmelding verteenwoordig 'n geweldige suidwaartse verspreiding van hierdie ongewone spesies vir die Afrika sub-streak. • To whan oonespmdence should be addressed The Stenopodidea fonn the small, yet distinctive infraorder of decapod crustaceans commonly known as barbero, cleaner- or sponge-shrimps. Holthuis (1946) recognized seven genera and 23 species of stenopodids throughout the world and this figure has now been increased to nine genera and 60 species worldwide (Goy 1983, 1985). The infraorder can be broadly divided into two ecological groups, the first living in shallow water from the inter-tidal down to 50 m and includes the genera Microprosthema and Stenopus. The second group is the deep-water fonns which are commen-sals of Hexactinellid sponges living below 165 m such as Spongico/a, Spongic%ides and Spongiocaris. Species of these deep-water genera are most easily separated by host-sponge specificity (Goy 1983). Another stenopodid genus, Odontozona appears to have a wider depth range, occurring in both shallow and deeper waters. In southern African waters, representatives of both shallow-water and deep-water groups are found. Kensley (1981) recorded only one shallow-water species - the common, pan-tropical barber shrimp Stenopus hispidus from the Agulhas Bank to Mozambique, as well as two apparently endemic deep-water genera and species, Odontozona spinosissima collected at 150-200 m off the Transkei coast (Kensley 1980) and Spongiocaris semiteres collected off Durban at a depth of 460 m (Bruce & Baba 1973). For some time, aquarists in Natal have collected a less common second species of shallow-water stenopodid which S.-Afr. Tydskr. Dierk. 1990,25(4) has been referred to as the 'purple-vested shrimp' whose colour patterns are distincly different from those of S. hispidus. This information prompted the authors to collect and identify this species. After extensive snorkelling on reefs around the Durban area (29°48'S /31°05'E), a small specimen was collected by hand-net at Vetch's Pier in approximately 0,5 m of water. The shrimp was subsequently transferred to a 1000-1 aquarium where it was photographed for identification. The specimen was positively identified using a key to the described Indo-West Pacific species of Stenopus (Goy & Randall 1986), a smaller key on Indo-West Stenopodidea (Bruce 1976) and by colour photographic comparisons, as colour patterns are species-specific in Stenopus (Goy & Randall 1986). This is the southernmost record of Stenopus tenuirostris for the African sub-region with Bruce's (1976) Zanzibar specimens 05°46'S /39°23'E) as the previous southern record for this rare tropical species. However, one of the authors (I.W.G.) has collected a mated pair of S. tenuirostris from Seal Rocks, N.S.W., Australia (32~7'S /152~2'E) which would appear to be the southernmost record for this species. Although this is the first time that S. tenuirostris has been recorded in southern African waters, its presence has been known for some time. Branch & Branch (1983) published a colour photograph (by A. Bannister) which was labelled as Stenopus hispidus. However, the colour patterns of the two species are quite distinct and this colour photograph was shown to be one of S. tenuirostris. In S. tenuirostris the carapace is purplish-blue in life and the abdomen has red transverse bands surrounded by yellow on the 3rd and 5th somites, while in S. hispidus the carapace is white in life and the abdomen has red transverse bands on the 3rd and 6th somites (Goy & Randall 1986). The chela of S. hispidus is alternately striped in red and white, while in S. tenuirostris the red stripes alternate with white and then yellow (Debelius 1986). Other differences are found in the rostrum which in S. hispidus does not exceed the middle of the antennular peduncle in length and has no ventral spines, with one or more lateral spines. S. tenuirostris, by compari-son, has a long rostrum which exceeds the antennular peduncle (hence its specific name) and has 1-5 ventral spines, and two rows of 4-9 lateral spines. S. tenuirostris also appears to be smaller than S. hispidus (Debelius 1986). The specimen from Vetch's Pier had a TL of 13 mm when collected in May, 1985 and has since grown to a TL of 35 mm after more than four years. Stenopus hispidus, by comparison, grows to a TL of about 80 mm (Goy, pers. obs.) in a similar period and is considered to be the largest species of Stenopus (Santos 1985). S. tenuirostris was first discovered around Ambon, Indonesia (De Man 1888), but is now known to occur in the entire Indian Ocean (Debelius 1986). Holthuis (1946) recorded this species only from the Indian Ocean and the Malaysian Archipelago. S. tenuirostris is moderately com-mon on western Indian Ocean reefs, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania (Bruce 1976) and the Seychelles (Borradaile 1910; Debelius 1986). S. tenuirostris undoubtedly occurs throughout Mozambique, but lack of collecting in this area and confusion with S. hispldus has probably been responsible for it not being recorded here. 'Purple-vested Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2010). S. Afr. 1. Zool. 1990. 25(4) shrimp', presumably S. lenuiroslris have, however. been collected by aquarists at Sodwana Bay. Zululand and at Isi-pingo tidal pool south of Durban (Levy. pers comm.). Like other species of Slenopus. it is generally found in pairs, often in cavities in large sponge-covered boulders between low water springs and 45 m (Bruce 1976), or in coral (Debelius 1986). Three other East African species of Slenopus which could also co-occur with Slenopus hispidus and S. lenuiroslris in southern African and Mozambican waters, possibly as va-grants, are Slenopus earlei. S. pyrsonotus and S. zanzibari-cus. The first, S. earlei is a small species, which occurs in Hawaii, Kenya and the Grand Comores (Goy & Randall 1986). The second, S. pyrsonotus is rare and is found in Hawaii, Mauritius (Goy & Devaney 1980), the Grand Co-mores (Goy & Randall 1986) and the Bismarck Archipelago in the Pacific (Debelius 1986) where it grows as large as S. hispidus. The fmal species, S. zanzibaricus is small, strikingly golden yellow in colour and is found around Zanzibar (Bruce 1976; Debelius 1986), Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands (Goy & Devaney 1980) and the Gilbert Islands (Hayashi 1986). References BORRADAILE, L.A. 1910. Penaeidea, Stenopodidea and Reptantia from the Western Indian Ocean. 'The Percy Staden Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905. under the leadership of Mr. Stanley Gardiner. M.A. Trans. Linn. Soc. London, mol. (2) 13: 257-264. BRANCH, G. & BRANCH, M. 1983. Crustacea, crabs and their kin. In: The Living Shores of southern Africa, 2nd edn, C. Struik Publishers. Cape Town. BRUCE, AJ. 1976. Studies on Indo-West Pacific Stenopodidea, 1. StenopllS zallZibaricus sp. nov., a new species from East Africa. Crustaceana 31: 90-102. 261 BRUCE, A.l. & BABA, K. 1973. Spongiocaris, a new genus of stenopodidean slnimp from New Zealand and South African waters, with a description of two new species (Decapoda. Natantia, Stenopodidea). Crustaceana25: 153-170. DEBEUUS, H. 1986. Boxer shrimps - genus Stenopus. Freslrwal. Mar. Aq/UU'i/Ufl9: 12-16. DE MAN, 1.G. 1888. Bericht Uber die von Herro Dr. 1. Brock im indischen Archipel gesammelten Decapoden und SkWn~en.Arch.JVat",gesch.53: 215-610. GOY,l.W. 1983. The zoogeography and evolution of Stenopodidean shrimps. Am. Zool. 23: 263. GOY,l.W. 1985. A preliminary analysis of the inter-generic relationships of stenopodidean slnimps. Am. Zool. 25: 683. GOY.l.W. & DEVANEY, D.M. 1980. Stenopus pyrsonotllS, a new species of stenopodidean shrimp from the Indo-Pacific region (Crustacea: Decapoda). Proc. BioI. Soc. Wash. 93: 781-796. GOY, 1.W. & RANDALL, I.E. 1986. Redescription of StenopllS devaneyi and StenopllS earlei from the Indo-West Pacific region (Decapoda: Stenopodidea). Bishop MIlS. Occ. Pap. 26: 81-101. HAYASHI, K.-1. 1986. An annotated list of shrimps (Alpheidae and Palaemonidae excluded) collected from the Gilbert and Solomon Islands. Proc. lapn. Soc. S,st. Zool. 32: 17-29. HOLTHUIS, L.B. 1946. The Decapoda Macrura of the Snellius Expedition, 1. 'The Stenopodidae, Nephropsidae, Scyllaridae and Palinuridae. Temminc/cia 7: 1-178. KENSLEY, B. 1980. 'The South African Museum's Meiring JVaJUie Cruises, 12: Further records of Decapoda Crustacea. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 83: 49-78. KENSLEY, B. 1981. On the zoogeography of southern African Decapod Crustacea, with a distributional checklist of the species. Smithsonian Contrib. mol. (338): 1-64. SANfOS, R.L. 1985. Notes on the boxer shrimp. Stenopus hispidus, in the home aquarium. Trop. Fish Hobb,ist 34: 40-54. Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2010). 

On the occurrence of Stenopus tenuirostris De Man, 1888 in Natal waters

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On the occurrence of Stenopus tenuirostris De Man, 1888 in Natal waters

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