to middle of second article; third article slightly 

 shorter than second; inner flagellum filiform 

 outer bifurcate beyond about eighth joint, thick- 

 ened proximally. Spine of antennal scale equaling 

 terminal article of antennal peduncle, both reach- 

 ing a little beyond antennular peduncle, spine 

 separated from and exceeding narrow lamella 

 distally; basicerite with a short, sharp lateral 

 spine nearly as long as stylocerite; above it a 

 smaller, acute, secondary spine. 



First pair of legs chelate, unequal. Large chela 

 ellipsoidal, only a little swollen in middle ; a small 

 obtuse tubercle on distal dorsal margin ; width of 

 palm about one-third total length of chela; dactyl 

 heavy, strongly arched above; immovable finger 

 narrow at tip; carpus short and wide, prolonged 

 downward and inward; merus stout, superior 

 margin ending distally in a sharp angular point. 

 Smaller chela similar in form; fingers pointed; 

 carpus short, cup shaped; merus like that of 

 larger chela. Second legs slender, weakly chelate ; 

 carpus subdivided, first joint about equal to re- 

 maining four. Third to fifth legs with bifurcate 

 dactyls, hooks unequal; outer one thinner and a 

 little longer, regularly curved, sharp; inner one 

 wider at base, strongly divergent, curved inward ; 

 proximal to inner hook a slight obtuse protuber- 

 ance or rudimentary spur. 



Telson broad, tapering, obtusely rounded dis- 

 tally ; each posterior angle with a pair of unequal 

 spines; two pairs of small dorsal spines, first pair 

 at midlength, second at three-fourths length. 

 Uropodal exopods with lateral margin ending in 

 a~ notch with a fixed spine on each side, a longer 

 movable spine between them. 



Measurements. — Length of body: ovigerous fe- 

 male, 22 mm. 



Variations. — In the subspecies S. f. elongatus 

 Coutiere (1909, p. 37, fig. 19) the lateral spine 

 of the antennal scale greatly exceeds the terminal 

 article of the antennal peduncle, and the rostrum 

 is decidedly longer than the ocular spines. In 

 the subspecies S. f. carolinensis Verrill (1922, p. 

 99, pi. 22, fig. 6; pi. 39, figs. 1-ld) and S. f. 

 caribaea Verrill (1922, p. 98, text-fig. 8; pi. 39, 

 figs. 3a-3c) the basicerite is shorter than in typical 

 specimens. 



Color. — Synalpheus fritzmuelleri: chela vary- 

 ing shades of green, darker toward extremities of 

 fingers; body more or less colorless, specked with 



quite numerous tiny red chromatophores. Syn- 

 alpheus fritzmuelleri elongatus: similar to pre- 

 ceding; chelipeds and second legs blue, except 

 anterior part of chela light green (Schmitt, 1930) . 



Habitat. — Often found living in sponges; low 

 tide mark to 28 fathoms. 



Type locality. — Synalpheus fritzmuelleri, Mar- 

 co, Fla. ; S. f. elongatus, Mouth of Bull Creek, S.C. 



Known range. — Typical fritzmuelleri: Nege, 

 Greenland (Stephensen, 1950) ; off Beaufort, N.C., 

 to Port Aransas, Tex.; West Indies to Curasao; 

 Old Providence Island ; Tres Marias Archipelago, 

 Mexico; Bermuda. Subspecies elongatus: off 

 Beaufort, N.C., to Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, 

 Brazil, including Jamaica and Barbados; Tres 

 Marias Archipelago, Mexico. Subspecies caro- 

 linensis: Fort Macon, N.C. Subspecies caribaea: 

 Dominica. 



Remarks. — Distribution of the named sub- 

 species and varieties of Synalpheus fritzmuelleri 

 shows that modern revisionary work in the West- 

 ern Atlantic is needed. Until thorough study is 

 made, the various names must be retained, but 

 it is likely that the present designations do not 

 adequately explain local populations which par- 

 allel each other at widely separated locations. 

 As Banner (1953) pointed out, earlier workers, 

 with only a few specimens from these widely 

 separated localities, naturally tended to name the 

 variants, the range of variation being then un- 

 known. Varietal names, therefore, must be re- 

 garded as conditional. Verrill (1922, p. 89) may 

 have concurred for he quoted Stebbing's dim 

 view of naming infinite variations but proceeded 

 to name varieties anyway. 



In the Carolinas, this species lives on offshore 

 reefs (Pearse and Williams, 1951) in large 

 sponges. Specimens may be found in beach drift, 

 after severe storms. Ovigerous females of typical 

 fritzmuelleri are known from the Carolinas in 

 February, and June to October, indicating a long 

 breeding season. Ovigerous females of S. f. 

 elongatus are known from Barbados in May, and 

 North Carolina in June and July. 



Synalpheus minus (Say) 



Figure 57 



Alpheu8 minus Say, 1818. p. 245. 



Synalpheus minus: Hay and Shore, 1918, p. 382, text-fig. 5 ; 

 pi. 20. fig. 3 (rev.).— Verrill, 1922, p. 102, pi. 21, fig. 1; pi. 23, 

 fig. 3 ; pi. 25, fig. 3 ; pi. 31, fig. 4 ; pi. 33, figs. 4. 4a ; pi. 36, figs. 

 1-ld, 2; pi. 47, figs. 1-lc, 2; pi. 48, figs. 3-3c (rev.). — Schmitt, 

 l!»35a. p. 149. 



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