FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72, NO. 3 



arched, anterolateral teeth exclusive of outer 

 orbital and lateral spine varying from acute with 

 serrate margins to increasingly acuminate and 

 forward curving with nearly smooth margins at 

 lateral end of row. Lateral spine relatively stout. 

 Surface of carapace coarsely granulate, but 

 granules more widely spaced or absent near mar- 

 gins, on epibranchial surfaces, and along regional 

 sulci; most closely crowded granules on mesogas- 

 tric, cardiac, and mesobranchial areas. Epibran- 

 chial line prominent and nearly uninterrupted. 



Chelipeds with propodus and carpus moderately 

 ridged, granules on dorsal and lateral ridges 

 becoming smooth with age; chelae of large speci- 

 mens very strong, major one often very broad with 

 fingers heavily toothed (if not worn), lower margin 

 of propodal finger often decurved near base oppo- 

 site enlarged basal tooth of dactylus. 



Male abdomen and telson reaching beyond mid- 

 length of thoracic sternite IV; telson lanceolate, 

 much longer than broad; sixth segment of abdo- 

 men broadened distally. Mature female abdomen 

 and telson reaching about midlength of thoracic 

 sternite IV; telson elongate triangular with 

 inflated sides, sixth segment longer than fifth. 

 First gonopods of male (Figures 19c, 20p) very 

 long, usually exceeding telson and crossed near 

 tips; sinuously curved and overlapping proxi- 

 mally, diverging distally, twisting mesioventrally 

 on axis lateral to abdominal locking tubercle and 

 recurving to termination near midline; armed 

 distally with dorsolateral band of large and small 

 retrogressive spinules. Gonopores of female (Fig- 

 ure 23a) ovate in outline with apex on long axis 

 directed anteromesad; aperture of each sloping 

 from surface on mesial side under rounded, sinu- 

 ous anterolateral border superior to a rounded 

 eminence on posterior border. 



Size of carapace in mm. — Largest male: length 

 71, width at base of lateral spines 125, including 

 lateral spines 151. Largest female: length 59, 

 width at base of lateral spines 105, including 

 lateral spines 127. Summary of selected mea- 

 surements is given in Tables 1 and 2. The species 

 is characteristically large at adult size, Irvine 

 (1947) reporting carapace widths of 8-12 inches 

 (20-30 cm). 



Color. — Uniform greenish brown with articula- 

 tions and internal face of chela and dactyl bluish; 

 ventral aspect yellowish white (Rossignol, 1957). 

 Khaki colored with bluish tinge and bluish legs 



(Irvine, 1932, 1947); predominantly brown, 

 perhaps where waters are often turbid with silt 

 (Longhurst, 1958). A mottled olive coloration 

 persists at least as long as 20 yr in some preserved 

 specimens. 



Variation . — Aptly named for one of their most 

 distinctive features, adults of C latimanus have 

 broad major chelae. Chelae with worn tooth rows 

 and gaping fingers seem disproportionately large 

 in old males, and in their smooth surfaces these 

 may resemble the hands of C. bocourti (excellent 

 example, AMNH 3111), but the entire cheliped is 

 shorter and thicker than in that species. There is 

 usually a strongly developed proximal tooth on 

 the dactyl of the major hand and opposite it a 

 strongly decurved propodal finger. The minor 

 chela (normally left) is much slimmer than the 

 major, its two fingers toothed with meshing secto- 

 rial triads or variants of this pattern. 



Especially in juveniles, the submesial pair of 

 frontal teeth often overhangs and obscures the 

 epistomial tooth, though not so completely as in C. 

 toxotes. Adult females have coarse granulations 

 over the whole carapace though not so closely 

 crowded at the edges as in central elevated parts 

 behind the epibranchial line. There are smooth 

 areas between more scattered granules in front of 

 the epibranchial line in both sexes. 



First gonopods of males rnay extend beyond the 

 telson. 



Distribution.— Baie de Saint-Jean [19°27'N, 

 16°22'W], Mauritania, to Cabinda, Angola (Fig- 

 ure 27). (Perhaps farther south in Angola on basis 

 of published accounts such as Gruvel [1912] and 

 Monod [1956], and specimens of uncertain origin 

 [AMNH 5895].) 



Habitat. — In a category Longhurst (1958) called 

 "mobile invertebrates," the most important es- 

 tuarine species in the Sierra Leone River (site 

 studied) appeared to be C. latimanus and 

 Parapenaeopsis atlantica Balss. Neither of these 

 was completely restricted to the estuary but oc- 

 curred only sporadically outside it. Callinectes 

 latimanus was most abundant in the mides- 

 tuarine region in many of the otter-trawl hauls, 

 and extended far up creeks to low-salinity water. 

 Sourie (1954b) found C. latimanus widely distrib- 

 uted in estuaries of Senegal ranging from fresh 

 water to salt concentrations near saturation, and 

 Gruvel (1912) reported brackish water habitats in 



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