Atlantic expansion of the African caridean shrimp Lysmata uncicornis Holthuis & Maurin, 1952 (Caridea: Lysmatidae)

Abstract

The present study reports the occurrence of several specimens of the African caridean shrimp Lysmata uncicornis Holthuis & Maurin, 1952 in the NE Atlantic coast (Gulf of Cadiz, Spain and the Algarve, Portugal). Lysmata uncicornis is a poorly studied species that has been originally described from the Atlantic waters of Morocco, where it was first collected inside the port of Casablanca in a rocky bottom at 4–5-m depth. While no scientific publication has previously reported this species outside the waters of Morocco, several specimens have been collected in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Cadiz and the Algarve. This species may be able to expand successfully northward along European waters, probably favoured by global warming. It is possible that this expansion may also be enhanced through the marine aquarium trade. Recently, Lysmata arvoredensis Giraldes, Macedo, Brandao, Baeza & Freire, 2018 a new species of shrimp from the south coast of Brazil was described. However, morphological and genetic comparisons revealed no differences between L. uncicornis and L. arvoredensis. Therefore, L. arvoredensis should be considered as a junior synonym of L. uncicornis. While L. uncicornis may well be an amphi-Atlantic species, such as L. grabhami (Gordon, 1935), for now, the introduction of L. uncicornis in Brazilian waters cannot be ruled out.