SPECIES OF MUNIDOPSIS (CRUSTACEA, GALATHEIDAE) 

 OCCURRING OFF OREGON AND IN ADJACENT WATERS 



Julie W. Ambler' 



ABSTRACT 



Twelve species of Munidopsis (Decapoda: Crustacea: Galatheidae) were collected from the continental 

 slope, Cascadia Basin, and Tufts Abyssal Plain off Oregon and in adjacent waters. Three new species 

 are described: Munidopsis cascadia, M. tuftsi, and M. yaquinensis . One specimen, Munidopsis sp., 

 closely related to M. bairdii, is described but unnamed, pending capture of more specimens. Munidop- 

 sis chacei is synonymized with M. bairdii and M. geyeri is synonymized with M. subsquamosa . The 

 ranges of seven previously described species are now extended to Oregon and Washington: M. aries, M. 

 bairdii, M. beringana, M. ciliata, M. latirostris, M. subsquamosa, and M. verrucosus. The 12 species 

 occurred between 950 and 4,194 m; 3 species were found on the continental slope (950-2,189 m); 9 

 species were found on Cascadia Basin (1,900-3,025 m); and 3 species were found on Tvifts Plain 

 (3,390-4,194 m). Species composition on Cascadia Basin differed from east to west. The highest 

 densities (number of specimens per trawl) occurred at the base of the continental slope and 40 miles 

 farther west. One species, M. latirostris, contributed 73.0% of the total number of specimens, and three 

 other species (M. bairdii, M. ciliata , and M. subsquamosa ) contributed an additional 20 .2% . The species 

 collected also occur in the Atlantic (M. bairdii, M. aries), tropical Pacific and Indian (M. ciliata), 

 tropical Pacific (A/, latirostris), Arctic (M. beringana), southern temperate Pacific (M. verrucosus), or 

 are cosmopolitan (Af. subsquamosa), or are endemic on Cascadia Basin (M. cascadia, M. yaquinensis), 

 and on Tufts Plain (M. tuftsi). 



Species of Munidopsis are found from intertidal 

 waters to the abyssal plains of the deep sea. 

 Munidopsis polymorpha is found in saltwater 

 lakes in caverns connected to the sea in the Ca- 

 nary Islands (Dinkins 1969). Munidopsis crassa, 

 the deepest known species, was found at 4,700 m in 

 the Bay of Biscay (Sivertson and Holthuis 1956). 

 Recently, an unidentified Munidopsis sp. has been 

 found near submarine hot springs near the 

 Galapagos (Corliss and Ballard 1977). In general, 

 the genus is found in the deep sea with about half 

 of the known species occurring deeper than 800 m 

 (Doflein and Balss 1913). 



In the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first Munidop- 

 sis species were collected off Chile by the Chal- 

 lenger (Henderson 1888) and in the eastern tropi- 

 cal Pacificby the A /6a^ross (Faxon 1895). Benedict 

 (1902) described additional new species collected 

 by the Albatross off southern California and the 

 Galapagos, and in the Bering Sea. Since then, 

 Bahamonde (1964) and Khodkina (1973) have 

 found new species off Chile, and Pequegnat and 

 Pequegnat ( 1973) described a new species off Baja 

 California and Costa Rica from the Albatross and 



'School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 

 Oreg.; present address: Department of Oceanography, Texas 

 A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. 



Manuscript accepted August 1979. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 78, NO. 1, 1980. 



Galathea collections. Little work has been done on 

 Munidopsis occurring off the west coast of the 

 United States. Schmitt ( 1921), in a key to Muni- 

 dopsis species found off California, included M. 

 verrilli, M. hystrix, M. aspera, and M. quadrata. 

 Haig (1956) modified this key to include M. de- 

 pressa. 



This paper discusses the taxonomy and distribu- 

 tion of 12 Munidopsis species collected mainly off 

 Oregon from 950 to 4,194 m. These depths include 

 the lower slope and the abyssal plains of Cascadia 

 Basin and Tufts Plain (Figure 1). Among species 

 found off Oregon, only M. quadrata has previously 

 been collected from the west coast of the United 

 States. Three new species are described: M. cas- 

 cadia, M. tuftsi, and M. yaquinensis. One species, 

 Munidopsis sp., is described but left unnamed 

 until more specimens become available to eluci- 

 date its relationship to M. bairdii. The ranges of 

 seven previously described species are extended to 

 Oregon: M. bairdii, M. beringana, M. ciliata, M. 

 aries, M. verrucosus, M. latirostris, and M. sub- 

 squamosa. 



METHODS 



A total of 803 specimens were collected from 146 



13 ^3 



