CAPRELLIDAE OF WESTERN NORTH ATLAxNTlC 29 



Propodus of pereopods 5-7 robust with 2 proximal grasinng spines, 

 palm expanded slightly near grasping spines and with numerous setae. 



Abdomen of male and female tj^pical of genus. 



Variation. — In the western North Atlantic this species is constant 

 in most of its characters; however, a variant occurs along the coast of 

 Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina in which the spine 

 between the insertions of gnathopods 2 is reduced or absent. In this 

 variant the propodus of the pereopods is less robust and the body 

 not quite so stout as in the typical C. equilihra. 



Off Virginia this variant was taken on Leptogorgia. This association 

 may have some relation to the reduction of the spine and stoutness 

 of the pereopods since C. penantis taken from Leptogorgia showed a 

 loss of grasping spines on the propodus of the pereopods (p. 35). 



DiSTraBUTioN. — Type locality: South Carolina. "... I found them 

 common in the bay of Charleston, particularly at Sullivan's island, on 

 the two species of Gorgonia so common in the salt water creeks of 

 our southern coast" (Say, 1818). 



Other records: Sweden and Norway to the Mediterranean Sea in- 

 cluding the British Islands; Black Sea [?]; Azores; tropical West 

 Africa; St. Helena Island; South Africa; Madagascar; Mid-North 

 Atlantic and Sargasso Sea; Bermuda; east coast of United States from 

 Connecticut to Georgia (Procter, 1933, cites this species from Mount 

 Desert Region, Maine); Port Aransas, Texas; Puerto Cabello, Vene- 

 zuela; Cabo Frio and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mid-South Atlantic off 

 Brazil; Mar del Plata, Argentina; Valparaiso, Chile; Taboga Island, 

 Panama; between Panama and the Galapagos Islands; California; 

 Hawaii; Nagasaki, Mukaijima, and Saganoseki, Japan; Philippine 

 Islands; Cook Strait; New South Wales, Victoria, Fremantle, Aus- 

 tralia; New Zealand; Tasmania; Hong Kong; Singapore, Malaysia. 



New records: Fernandina, entrance to St. Johns River, St. Augus- 

 tine, Daytona, Cape Kenned}'-, off Ft. Lauderdale, Biscayne Ba}^ 

 and Panama City, Fla.; Grand Isle, La.; Galveston and Port Isabel 

 Tex.; Trinidad; Sacco Sao Francisco and Nictherey, Brazil; Estera 

 do la Luna, Sonora, Mexico; Vancouver Island, British Columbia. 

 Remarks. — Largo males of this species are easily distinguished 

 from the other species of Caprella by the large peduncular articles 

 of antenna 1 and the long perconites 1 and 2. In both nuiles and 

 females the cephalon is flattened anteriorly and in the typical form 

 a s|)ino is present between the insertions of giuxthopods 2. The non- 

 spined variant resembles other s})ecies of Caprella but can be identified 

 by the short stout basis of gnathopod 2 and the other characters 

 which are present in the typical form. 



C. eqtiilibra has been collected from various habitats including 

 sea grass, red and green algae, sponges, hydroids, stylasterines, 



