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DEBRA'S SQUAT
LOBSTER
Babamunida debrae
Baba 2011
In March, 2010,
Dennis McCrea sent me this photo of a small squat lobster that Debra
Newbery, his wife, had found at a depth of 80 ft. off the Kona coast
of the Big Island. I sent the photo on to Japanese crustacean expert
Dr. Keiji Baba, who expressed great interest and requested specimens.
Dennis and Debra collected two specimens in April 2010 and sent
them to Dr. Baba, who wrote back that it is a new species. Dr. Baba
published a full scientific description in April 2011 and named
it after Debra! See: Zootaxa 2812: 2127 (2011)
http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt02812p027.pdf
Debra also took
some video of this animal.
She writes:
I filmed
5 different critters - 4 within a couple feet of each other and
1 in another area about 15 feet away. All at around 85 feet deep.
Altogether in the 2 areas, we saw 9 or 10. (I'm sure there's more)
We tried a mirror to see if it would get one curious to come out
more."
By the way,
Dennis and Debra offer private charters on their very comfortable
boat. See http://www.underwateradventureshawaii.com/
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