Occurrence of Periclimenes scriptus (Risso, 1822) (Decapoda, Caridea, Pontoniinae) in Portuguese waters

Abstract

There are several records of Periclimenes scriptus in the eastern Atlantic, such as Norman (1907), Nobre (1931), Holthuis (1951, 1952), and Domenech et al. (1981), with the record by Nobre (1931) concerning specimens from Portuguese waters. However Grippa & d'Udekem d'Acoz (1996) concluded that all East Atlantic records of P. scriptus referred either to Periclimenes sagittifer (Norman, 1861) or were dubious, and that the only reliable records of P. scriptus were from the Mediterranean Sea. So far, Periclimenes sagittifer was the only Periclimenes species known with certainty from the waters off continental Portugal (Neves, 1975). However, in a review of the studies on larvae of European Periclimenes, Dos Santos et al. (2004) pointed out that there were markedly different kinds of larvae in the waters of continental Portugal, and hence concluded that there would be more than one species in the area. This is confirmed by the present study. During a field trip in southern Portugal in March and April 2004, the present author looked for crustaceans on small fishing boats (about 5 meters long) working with resting nets at short distances from the coast. Tens of Periclimenes were found on the boats of Arma?ao de P?ra, 37?06'N 008?21'W (small boats stranded on the beach) and Ferragudo, 37?08'N 008?32/W (one small boat stranded on an inclined plane of the harbour). All of them were quite different from P. sagittifer and had a morphology agreeing perfectly with P. scriptus, as described by Zariquiey Alvarez (1946, 1968) and Grippa & d'Udekem d'Acoz (1996). Especially, they had a slender outline, a very slender rostrum, and both second pereiopods equal to each other and with a long and narrow carpus (fig. 1). Furthermore, their colour pattern agreed with photographs published in literature (Debelius, 1983, 1999; G?thel, 1992; Moostleiner & Patzner, 1995; Grippa & d'Udekem d'Acoz, 1996; Wirtz &