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 photos copyright John P. Hoover unless otherwise credited


Squat Lobsters not in Hawaii's Sea Creatures
Squat lobsters, along with hermit crabs, porcelain crabs and mole crabs, belong to the crustacean group Anomura.
The Bishop Museum's complete list of all anomurans known in Hawaii is here


Dennis McCrea

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: 21–27 (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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Cory Pittman

Phylladiorhynchus integrirostris (Dana, 1852)

Cory Pittman took this photo of a small squat lobster he found in an algae wash. He sent the specimen to Dr. Keiji Baba who identified it. The species was originally described from Hawaii and has an Indo-Pacific distribution.

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Dennis McCrea

Galathea spinosorostris Dana 1852

These two photos by Dennis McCrea were identified as Galathea spinosorostris by Dr. Keiji Baba. (The "unidentified squat lobster" on p. 262 of my book appears to be this species.) Dennis and Debra say these little squat lobsters can be quite common at night on coral. This species was originally described from Hawaii and is widespread in the Indo-Pacific.


Dennis McCrea

 



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  Text and photos copyright John P. Hoover unless otherwise credited