Abstract
Lissocarcinus polybioides Adams & White, 1849 is a species of swimming crab from the Portunidae family that is known to occur in sub-tidal waters at depths of 2-100 m on muddy/sandy substrate with shells. There it occurs free living, associated with hard corals or associated with sea star Luidia maculata. Studies in the past have reported the presence of L. polybioides in several areas including the coastal waters of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf. Here, it is reported for the first time from the Alqurm Wa Lehhaffaiiah Protected Area in the United Arab Emirates where a specimen was found on a stranded L. maculata. The identification of the species was conducted using morphologic keys. This study represents the first record of L.polybioides from the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf of Oman.
Highlights
On the 1st of April 2017 several sea stars were found stranded on the beach of the Alqurm Wa Lehhaffaiiah Protected Area in the city of Kalba, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Most of the sea stars sampled were identified as Astropecten sp. and two specimens were identified as Luidia maculata Müller & Troschel, 1842
In the Arabian Gulf, it was observed in the coastal waters of Saudi Arabia (Apel and Spiridonov 1998) and Bahrain (Mohammed and Al-Ssadh 1996)
Summary
On the 1st of April 2017 several sea stars were found stranded on the beach of the Alqurm Wa Lehhaffaiiah Protected Area in the city of Kalba, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. These were sampled by Environment and Protected Areas Authority Scientific Research Department staff for species identification, subsequently made with identification guides and keys from available literature (Price 1983; Spiegel et al 1998; Chao 2000). There has been no previous records of Lissocarcinus polybioides occurring in the coastal waters of the entire Gulf of Oman nor on either coasts of the United Arab Emirates (Naderloo 2017).
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