FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

Nephropidae 991
Nephropsis stewarti Wood-Mason, 1873
Frequent synonyms / misidentifications:
None / None.
FAO names: En - Indian Ocean lobsterette;
Fr - Langoustine indienne; Sp - Cigala del
Oceano Indico.
Diagnostic characters: A small to mediumsized
lobster. Body cylindrical, covered
with thick fur. Carapace with a well-developed
rostrum armed with 1 pair of lateral
spines; anterior carapace bearing only
supraorbital and antennal spines; subdorsal
ridges without spines. Eyes minute,
cornea lacking pigmentation. Antennae
long and thread-like; antennal scale
absent. First 3 pairs of legs ending in pincers;
first pair rather stout and very hairy.
Abdomen without median longitudinal
carina, all pleura sharply pointed ventrally
but lacking spines on front edges. Tail fan
entirely hardened; outer blade showing a
transverse fissure; telson with a pair of
fixed posterolateral spines but unarmed
dorsally. Colour: body whitish and covered
with thick grey fur. Anterior carapace
including rostrum, ventral surface, mouth
parts and tail fan pink-red. Antennal and
antennular flagella orange. Legs orangepink,
with distal segments reddish; large
pincers sometimes slightly orange. Eggs
white.
Size: Maximum known body length about
20 cm, commonly between 10 and 15 cm.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: Deep sea
at depths from 170 to 1 060 m, mostly between
500 and 750 m on soft muddy substrate.
A common bycatch of deep-water
trawling operations throughout its range. Although
it is probably the largest and most
common species of the genus, its quantities
are at present too small for significant interest
to fisheries.
Distribution: Widely distributed
in the Indo-West Pacific,
from eastern Africa to Japan, the
Philippines, Indonesia, and
northwestern Australia.
(after Alcock and Anderson, 1896)