is located behind the orbital margin, thus appear- 

 ing as one of the carinal series on the carapace 

 (Lunz, 1945). 



Color. — Blue spots in tail prominent in life; 

 bright red blotch surrounding rostrum (note by 

 W. L. Schmitt in U.S. National Museum records). 



Habitat. — Between tide marks to 37 fathoms. 



Type locality. — Molde Fjord, west coast of Nor- 

 way [erroneous locality, evidently incorrectly 

 labeled]. 



Known range. — Beaufort, N.C. ; east and west 

 Florida; Gulf of Campeche; Cuba through West 

 Indies to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 



Remarks. — Hildebrand (1954) stated that this 

 species is taken in commercial quantities in the 

 Gulf of Batabano off southwest Cuba, and occurs 

 in commercial but unexploited quantities in parts 

 of the Gulf of Campeche. 



There remains some doubt that this species 

 occurs in North Carolina, though Lunz (1945) 

 stated that it does. If so, it is not common. 



Sicyonia dorsalis Kingsley 



Figure 28 



Sicyonia dorsalis Kingsley, 1878b, p. 97. — Hay and Shore, 1918, 

 p. 380, pi. 25, fig. 3. 



Eusicyonm dorsalis: Burkenroad, 1934b, p. 121, figs. 13, 14 

 (rev.). — Lunz, 1945, p. 8, fig. 5. 



Recognition characters. — Body small, slightly 

 compressed. Carapace minutely punctate, less 

 deep and inflated than 8. stimpsoni. Rostrum ex- 

 tending horizontally or decurved variable dis- 

 tance beyond eye; ridge on lateral surface sloping 

 upward to near dorsal margin; armed dorsally 

 with three teeth not counting tip, posterior tooth 

 in front of orbital margin and placed variable 

 distance from anterior carinal tooth of carapace; 

 tip appearing bifurcate, dorsal tooth greatly en- 

 larged, ventral tooth reduced to blunt angle. 



Figure 28. — Sicyonia dorsalis Kingsley. Cara- 

 pace and first abdominal segment in lateral view, 

 2 mm. indicated l after Lunz, 1945). 



Postrostral carina with two teeth, anterior tooth 

 before level of hepatic spine, posterior tooth near 

 midpoint. Antennal angle armed with a spine. 



Abdominal segments with conspicuous tergal 

 carinae; margins of notches at posterior ends of 

 carinae on segments three to five sometimes pro- 

 duced into long slender spines. First abdominal 

 segment with tergal carina produced into an 

 elevated anterior tooth; anteroventral margin of 

 pleura concave (or at least straight in young) 

 and with an anterior angle in addition to one in 

 middle of ventral edge, posterior angle sometimes 

 produced into a dentiform projection. Second 

 abdominal segment with tergal and pleural 

 grooves connected as an uninterrupted groove 

 extending full depth of segment. Ventral margins 

 of pleura in segments three and four each with 

 both anterior and posterior angle, anterior some- 

 times sharp, posterior sometimes armed with 

 strong curved spine. Fifth segment with posterior 

 spine only. Tergal carina of sixth segment ex- 

 tended into a posterior spine. 



Petasma of male with distoventral lobe forked. 



Measurements.- — Length of body : male 63 mm. ; 

 female 71 mm. 



Variations. — Angles and spines on the pleura 

 become better defined with increasing age. 



Habitat. — Common on mud bottom (Hilde- 

 brand, 1954), or mud and shells (Holthuis, 1959) ; 

 from 3 to 88 fathoms, rarely to 230 fathoms. 



Type locality. — Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, 

 Fla. 



Known range. — Cape Hatteras, N.C, to Texas; 

 Colombia to French Guiana. 



Remarks. — Hildebrand (1954, 1955) listed this 

 species as third in abundance on the brown shrimp 

 grounds in Texas but less common on Campeche 

 Banks. It is most common in 15-25 fathoms but 

 ranges shoreward to depths of 6.5 fathoms, and 

 small specimens were occasionally taken in the 

 mouths of bays. Eldred (1959) listed this species 

 as the most common among Sicyonia species taken 

 in the Tortugas controlled area in Florida. 



Adults of this species fouled with the barnacle, 

 Balanus amphitnte niveus Darwin, and Polydora 

 sp., were reported from the Gulf of Mexico off 

 Marquesas Key by Eldred (1962). Such speci- 

 mens, ranging in size from 58 to 70 mm. total 

 length, were judged to be near maximum size 

 for the species. 



MARINE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE CAROLINAS 

 763^049 O — 65 4 



37 



