A Tropical Shrimp in the Bay of Fundy (Decapoda, Palaemonidae)

Abstract

A specimen of Leander tenuicornis (Say) (Decapoda, family Palaemonidae) was taken near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy on August 24, 1969. This is the first record of this species for the Bay of Fundy, and none have been reported from the Gulf of Maine proper. The specimen is an ovigerous female 29 millimeters total length, including the rostrum. Only a small portion of the original clutch of eggs still remained attached to the pleopods. It was caught in a large commercial type otter trawl fitted with fine-mesh netting operated from the research vessel Albatross IV during cruise 69-8, station number 239. This station is located at 44?34'N 66?29'W, which is about 15 km southeast of Grand Manan Island (New Brunswick), Canada. The preceding coordinates of latitude and longitude are given for the termination of the haul. Water depth during the towing period ranged from 163 to 201 m. Although the trawl was fished for 30 minutes on the sea bottom, the specimen is thought to have been caught at the surface while the trawl was being retrieved. Temperature of the surface water at this location was 13.8?C The usual habitat of L. tenuicornis in offshore waters is among floating gulfweed (Sargassum spp.). Along shore it occurs among various kinds of plants both at the surface and submerged, and around wharf pilings and other protected sites. The geographic range of this species was summarized by Williams (1965) as follows: tropical and subtropical waters all over the world except for west coast of Americas; Newfoundland Banks to Falkland Islands in western Atlantic (Holt huis, 1952). In the northwestern Atlantic it has been reported as common among gulfweed floating in the Gulf Stream (Smith, 1879; Kingsley, 1899; Verrill, 1885; Fowler, 1912; and others). My personal observations have further revealed that this shrimp occurs north of the Gulf Stream near the edge of the continental shelf off southern New England. A total of 23 specimens of L. tenuicornis were