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Squat
Lobsters not in Hawaii's
Sea Creatures |
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DEBRA'S SQUAT
LOBSTER In March, 2010,
Dennis McCrea sent me this photo of a small squat lobster that Debra
Newbery 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) ODDLY, These fun little animals seem most numerous in the area around Kawaihae on the Big Island of Hawaii. Keoki Stender has posted photos of one at Pupukea, O`ahu. If you find any elsewhere, please let me know. (update 7-12-13 see below!) 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) UPDATE!
Rob Whitton found what certainly appears to be the same species
while diving off French Frigate Shoals in May 2013. Here is a still
from video he shot. This suggests that the center of population
for this species might well be in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,
which would help explain why these are so rare and localized in
the main Hawaiian Islands. ============================================ |
 Cory Pittman |
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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. ============================================ |
 Dennis McCrea |
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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. |
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