Abstract
BackgroundThe Pacific coastline along the southern Izu Peninsula, Japan, is strongly influenced by warm tropical waters of the Kuroshio Current. A new easternmost record of the near-threatened sesarmid crab Clistocoeloma villosum is reported from the southern part of Izu Peninsula.MethodsThe present study was conducted in August 2014 and February 2015, on tidal flats in the mouth of the Aono River, draining the southern part of Izu Peninsula. Crabs were collected by hand on the tidal flat substrate, under cobble stones and on the periphery of associated mangrove forests.Results and conclusionBody sizes and morphological characteristics closely matched existing descriptions of C. villosum, the distribution range having been extended ca. 350 km eastward from the Kii Peninsula (traditional eastern boundary of the species), suggesting broad northeastwardly directed planktonic larval transport by the warm Kuroshio Current along the Pacific coast of Japan. The survival and settlement of larvae of this southern species along the southern coast of the Izu Peninsula, is evidence of the suitability of the small gravel dominated tidal flats in the region as habitat for the species.
Highlights
The Pacific coastline along the southern Izu Peninsula, Japan, is strongly influenced by warm tropical waters of the Kuroshio Current
The short steeply graded rivers characteristic of the peninsula largely restrict the formation of tidal flats at the river mouths, the Aono River mouth is characterized by very small tidal flats, including salt marshes and semi-mangrove forests
Clistocoeloma villosum was monitored along the Aono River (34°38′06" N, 138°53′11" E) at Minami-Izu Town, Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka, Japan (Fig. 1), the intertidal zone habitat of the river mouth being characterized by mud flats, gravels, cobble stones, oyster beds and salt marshes
Summary
The Pacific coastline along the southern Izu Peninsula, Japan, is strongly influenced by warm tropical waters of the Kuroshio Current. A new easternmost record of the near-threatened sesarmid crab Clistocoeloma villosum is reported from the southern part of Izu Peninsula. The coastline of southern Izu Peninsula, southeastern Honshu Island, Japan is strongly influenced by the Kuroshio Current, which carries warm tropical waters in a northeastwardly direction (Yamano et al, 2011). Detailed investigations of the tidal flats and associated semi-mangrove areas have not yet been undertaken. The present report details the first records of the sesarmid crab Clistocoeloma villosum Milne Edwards, 1869) on the tidal flats and in the semimangrove forest area of the Aono River mouth, southern Izu Peninsula. The distribution range of this crab in Japan had been recognized as between the Ryukyu Islands and Kii Peninsula, southern Honshu Island (see Karasawa et al, 2006), approximately 350 km distant from Izu Peninsula
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