Neolithodes brodiei

Neolithodes brodiei

Not Threatened (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Anomura
Family: Lithodidae
Genus: Neolithodes
Species:
N. brodiei
Binomial name
Neolithodes brodiei
Dawson & Yaldwyn, 1970[2]

Neolithodes brodiei, also known as Brodie's king crab,[3] is a species of king crab which is native to New Zealand and its adjacent waters.[4] It lives at a depth of 500–1,240 metres (1,640–4,070 ft) but is typically found within a range of 950–1,150 metres (3,120–3,770 ft).[4] It is the most widespread and common king crab in New Zealand waters,[4] and the New Zealand Department of Conservation has classified it as "Not Threatened" in 2013 and 2023.[1][5]

Description

Neolithodes brodiei is deep-red in colour and has numerous small spinules on its pereiopods and carapace as well as major spines scattered throughout its dorsal surface.[6] It has a pyriform carapace having been measured as large as 188 mm (7.4 in) in length[a] and 161.6 mm (6.36 in) in width, making it the second-largest king crab known from New Zealand behind Lithodes aotearoa.[8] Its first pair of walking legs are the shortest, and its third pair are the longest; in males, the third walking leg measures up to 2.94x the length of the carapace excluding the rostrum.[6]

Distribution

Neolithodes brodiei lacks a known presence beyond depths of about 1,200 m (3,900 ft), meaning it likely lives only on New Zealand's continental shelf and continental slope.[4] It has allegedly been found in the Haima cold seeps in the northwestern South China Sea at depths of approximately 1,300–1,400 metres (4,300–4,600 ft), but it may only occasionally visit the ecosystem.[9]

In 2001, a paper published in Zoosystema claimed to have found a specimen of N. brodiei in Vanuatu;[10] however, this was later determined to be a yet-undescribed species.[11] Likewise, a 2005 paper in Polar Biology claimed to have found four specimens off the Balleny Islands in the Southern Ocean,[12] but these were misidentified and were later determined to be a new species called Neolithodes yaldwyni.[4] It was also thought to occur in the southwestern Tasman Sea, but this was also determined to be a new species called Neolithodes flindersi.[13][14]

Taxonomy

Neolithodes brodiei was described in 1970 by carcinologists Elliot Watson Dawson and John Cameron Yaldwyn from an ovigerous female holotype found on the Campbell Plateau.[15] Its specific name "brodiei" takes its namesake from James William Brodie, then-Director of the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute.[16]

Along with N. flindersi, N. indicus, and N. nipponensis, it belongs to a subgroup of Neolithodes defined by carcinologist Shane T. Ahyong as having "numerous secondary spinules on the carapace and pereopods in addition to the major spines; convex dorsal margins of the cheliped dactylus; and compressed, flattened meri of the walking legs".[17][18] By contrast, it is markedly different from N. bronwynae, the only other Neolithodes known to live in New Zealand waters.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Excluding the rostrum, this is 165.5 mm (6.52 in).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Funnell et al. 2023, p. 36.
  2. ^ Yaldwyn & Dawson 1970, pp. 227–228.
  3. ^ "Brodie's king crab (NEB)". Fisheries New Zealand. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ahyong 2010b, p. 83.
  5. ^ Freeman et al. 2013, p. 13.
  6. ^ a b Ahyong 2010b, p. 82.
  7. ^ Ahyong 2010b, p. 80.
  8. ^ Ahyong 2010b, pp. 28, 83.
  9. ^ Ke et al. 2022, p. 1.
  10. ^ Macpherson 2001, p. 799.
  11. ^ Ahyong 2010b, p. 96.
  12. ^ Thatje & Lörz 2004, p. 334.
  13. ^ Ahyong 2010a, p. 55.
  14. ^ Ahyong 2010b, p. 185.
  15. ^ Dawson & Yaldwyn 1970, p. 227.
  16. ^ Yaldwyn & Dawson 1970, pp. 228.
  17. ^ Ahyong 2010b, pp. 82–83.
  18. ^ Padate, Cubelio & Takeda 2020, p. 74.

Works cited

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