A New Record for Metapenaeus Stebbingi Nobili, From Pakistan

Abstract

Metapenaeus st ebbin gi was first described by Nobili (1904: 229). The speci mens were captured in the Red Sea and near Suez. Later, in 1906, the same author gave a more detailed account of the species and figured the petasma and the thelycum. While the figure of the petasma is fairly adequate that of the thelycum seems to be more diagrammatic. However, it shows all the essential parts of the thelycum. In 1921 Tattersall (: 365, as Penaeopsis stebbingi) recorded the same species from the Sudanese Red Sea and, judging from the figures, one can see that the males belong to the present species but that the females are certainly not M. stebbingi^). Barnard (1950: 599) in his catalogue of the South African Decapoda recorded the same species from Delagoa Bay. It may be mentioned here that he has erroneously placed the females of this species in a closely related species, M. monoceros. From the above records it is evident that the distribution of M. stebbingi is limited. It is found in the Red Sea and by migration through the Suez Canal reached Port Said. Besides this, two specimens are reported from S. Africa. The specimens at my disposal were collected in the Arabian Sea off Karachi and are the first to be recorded from here. They number fourteen of which only two are males; the largest specimen is a female measuring 22 mm in carapace length. The smallest female and both the males measure 15 mm in carapace length. It is of interest to note that the largest specimen recorded so far measured 90 mm in total length (Nobili, 1904), while the largest specimen from Karachi measures 97 mm from the tip of the rostrum to the telson. The specimens agree in general with the description of the species given by previous authors except in the details of thelycum and petasma. The petasma, on a careful examination, is found to be much more complicated than described by