CRABS (BRACHYURA) OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Crabs of the Gulf of Mexico 111
between the Xanthidae and Carcinoplacinae as a link to the Goneplacidae.
Bouvier (1940) included Geryon in the Xanthidae, but Rathbun (1937),
Sakai (1939) and Barnard (1950) treated it as a genus of the Goneplacidae.
In the present list, only the type genus, Geryon, is listed in the
family; Bathyplax is retained in the Goneplacidae until further studies
are available (refer to Guinot, 1969a, 1971).)
Geryon Kreyer, 183 7
Geryon quinquedens Smith, 1879 (Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts Sci. 5: 35)
Common Name: Deep Sea Red Crab
Rathbun, 1937, p. 271, not pis. 85-86; Chace, 1940, p. 38; Pequegnat, 1970, p. 189,
fig. 6-7; Wigley, Theroux & Murray, 1975, p. 1.
Range: Nova Scotia to South Carolina; east coast of Florida; Florida Straits;
off Key West; Dry Tortugas; off Alabama and Texas; off northeast Mexico;
north coast of Cuba; off Cape Frio, Brazil.
Depth: 40 to 2153 m (22 to 1178 fm), most common at 320 to 914 m (175 to
500 fm).
Habitat: primarily on mud and ooze substrates, occasionally on sand or shellmud
bottoms.
Remarks: Chace (1940) compared this species with G. affinis, which is very
similar in appearance. Plates 85 and 86 in Rathbun (1937) are of G. affinis.
This latter species has also been caught off the coast of Florida, but it is more
common in southern areas of the Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean. Le Loeuff
et al. (1974) recently reported G. quinquedens from the Ivory Coast of Africa.
When alive, there are color differences between these two species (Schroeder,
1959). Leone (1951) used serological techniques to investigate the taxonomic
status of this crab. Musick and McEachran (1972) reported it from depths of
168 m in Chesapeake Bight. Accounts of the red crab fishery include those of
Schroeder (1959), McRae (1961), Meade and Gray (1973), Holmsen and Mc­
Allister (1974), Ganz and Herrmann (1975), and Wigley, Theroux and Murray
(1975). The latter study contains details of substrate and temperature data,
a review of the life history of this crab, and in situ bottom photographs of the
animal. Gray (1969) also provided an account of the biology of this species.
Haefner and Musick (1974) reported its occurrence in Norfolk Canyon. Pequegnat
(1970) indicated a center of depth range at about 914 m (500 fm)
within the Gulf of Mexico, but all of the crabs taken by the R/V Alaminos at
depths greater than 1170 m (640 fm) were juveniles. Haefner (1977) investigated
reproduction in females.
Family GONEPLACIDAE Macleay, 1838 (sensuBalss, 1957)
(Guinot (1969a) has proposed several revisions in the systematic relationships
of this family, most of them based on presumed affinities with
genera of the Xanthidae, from which the Goneplacidae may have been
derived. In the present list, the Gulf genera are listed alphabetically, as