Reef lobster

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Reef lobsters
Enoplometopus daumi, purple reef lobster
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Order: Decapoda Suborder: Pleocyemata Infraorder: Astacidea Superfamily: Enoplometopoidea [1] De Saint Laurent, 1988 Family: Enoplometopidae De Saint Laurent, 1988 Genus: Enoplometopus A. Milne Edwards, 1862
Species [2]
E. antillensis Lütken, 1865 E. callistus Intès and Le Loeuff, 1970 E. chacei Kensley and Child, 1986 E. crosnieri Chan and Yu, 1998 E. daumi Holthuis, 1983 E. debelius Holthuis, 1983 E. gracilipes (De Saint Laurent, 1988) E. holthuisi Gordon, 1968 E. occidentalis (Randall, 1840) E. pictus A. Milne Edwards, 1862 E. voigtmanni Türkay, 1989 Enoplometopus sp. Miyake, 1983

Reef lobsters (Enoplometopus) constitute a single genus of small lobsters that live on hard rocky bottoms in tropical parts of the world's oceans and Japanese waters. They are usually found between the depths of 80-300 m. They are generally brightly coloured, with stripes, rings, or spots in shades of red, orange, white and, blue; as a result, some species are gaining popularity in the aquarium trade. Reef lobsters are small (6–7 in; 15–18 cm), nocturnal, and very timid. The species can be distinguished by their colouration and morphology.

Reef lobsters are distinguished from clawed lobsters (family Nephropidae) by having full claws (chelae) only on the first pair of pereiopods, the second and third pairs being only subchelate (where the last segment of the appendage can press against a short projection from the penultimate one). Clawed lobsters have full claws on the first three pereiopods. Males, unlike those of nephropoid lobsters, have an extra lobe on the second pleopod, which is assumed to have some function in reproduction. Reef lobsters have a shallow cervical groove while clawed lobsters have a deep cervical groove ^[1].

Although there is no fossil record of reef lobsters, there is some evidence that they may be related to the extinct genus Eryma which lived from the Permo-Triassic to the late-Cretaceous ^[3].

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Michèle de Saint Laurent (1988). "Enoplometopoidea, nouvelle superfamille de Crustacés Décapodes Astacidea". C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris t. 307, Série III: 59–62. 
2. ^ J. Poupin (2003). "Reef lobsters Enoplometopus A. Milne Edwards, 1862 from French Polynesia, with a brief revision of the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Enoplometopidae)". Zoosystema 25 (4): 643–664. 
3. ^ F. R. Schram & C. J. Dixon (2004). "Decapod phylogeny: addition of fossil evidence to a robust morphological cladistic data set". Bull. Mizunami Fossil Mus. 31: 1–19.