NOTES ON DECAPOD AND EUPHAUSIID CRUSTACEANS, 

 CONTINENTAL MARGIN, WESTERN ATLANTIC, GEORGES BANK 



TO \XTSTERN FLORIDA, USA 



Austin B Williams' 



ABSTRACT 



Twenty-six species of decapod crustaceans in 16 families and 1 species of euphausiid are reported from 

 the outer continental shelf, submarine canyons, and nearby slope of the eastern and southeastern 

 United States. Station data are given for all collections made with the aid of submersible and surface 

 vessels. Bathymetric and geographic distributions are summarized for six species (Lithodes maja, 

 Munida forceps. M. longipes, Chacellus filiformis, Dissodactylus juvenilis . Euchirograpsus ameri- 

 canus ) whose ranges are extended. Comparative descriptive notes are given for other forms that have 

 uncertain identities and need further study (Alpheus cf. amblyonyx, sp. near Ligur. Mumdopsis cf. 

 transtridens ). 



Records of decapod crustaceans from the outer 

 continental shelf, submarine canyons, and 

 nearby slope off the eastern United States have 

 accumulated in my files to the point that it seems 

 appropriate to publish them with notes on the 

 samples taken in that habitat. Specimens were 

 collected with the aid of deep and shallow water 

 submersibles and surface vessels operated cooper- 

 atively by the Lamont-Doherty Geological Labo- 

 ratory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY. with 

 sponsors listed hereinafter, and between Rutgers 

 University, Center for Coastal and Environmen- 

 tal Studies, and Department of Horticulture and 

 Forestry, New Brunswick. NJ; the Northeast 

 Fisheries Center. National Marine Fisheries Ser- 

 vice (NMFS). NOAA, Woods Hole. MA; and the 

 Southeast Fisheries Center Laboratories, NMFS. 

 NOAA, at Panama City, FL, and Pascagoula, MS 

 (Able et al. 1982, 1987; Grimes et al. 1980a. 1986; 

 and Lamont-Doherty records). Vessels (see Table 

 1 1 and their sponsoring institutions were DSRV 

 Alvm, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 

 Woods Hole, MA; RV JSL I and JSL II, Harbor 

 Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc., Fort 

 Pierce, FL; RV Cape Henlopen , University of Del- 

 aware, Lewes, DE; RV Eastward , Duke Univer- 

 sity, Beaufort. NC; RV Endeavor, University of 

 Rhode Island, Kingston, RI; RV Gyre, Texas 

 A&M University, Galveston, TX. The specimens 

 have been deposited in the crustacean collection 



'Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 NOAA. U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washing- 

 ton. DC 20560 



Manuscript accepted August 1987. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 86. NO. 1, 1988. 



of the United States National Museum of Natural 

 History (USNM). 



Bathymetric and geographic distributions of 

 many decapod crustacean species from the North 

 American continental shelf in the western At- 

 lantic were reviewed by Squires (1965), Williams 

 and Wigley (1977), Wenner (1982), and Williams 

 (1984). Wenner and Boesch (1979) and Wenner 

 and Windsor (1979) included a deeper dwelling 

 component in their treatments of epibenthic deca- 

 pods collected from the continental shelf and 

 slope. Collections by workers from the contribut- 

 ing institutions listed above include 26 species of 

 decapod crustaceans in 16 families, some uniden- 

 tified fragments, and 1 species of euphausiid 

 listed in Table 1. Named localities are listed from 

 north to south (see Figures 1 and 2); successive 

 visits are arranged chronologically, and species 

 present in each collection are inventoried alpha- 

 betically. 



Species whose reported bathymetric or geo- 

 graphic ranges are extended by presence in these 

 collections are discussed below. Some of the forms 

 have uncertain identities that may be clarified 

 after more thorough study of samples from the 

 outer shelf-upper slope environment. 



SUPERFAMILY ALPHEOIDEA 



Family Alpheidae 



Alpheus cf. amblyonyx Chace 1972. Three lots of 

 specimens key out to A. amblyonyx (see Chace 

 1972), but they differ in several respects from it. 



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