CRABS (BRACHYURA) OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Holoplites Rathbun, 1894
Crabs of the Gulf of Mexico 63
Holoplites armala (A. Milne Edwards, 1880) (Crust. Reg. Mex., p. 348)
Rathbun, 1925, p. 307, text-fig. 102, pi. 108, pi. 245, figs. 6-8; Chace, 1940, p. 64;
BuIIis & Thompson, 1965, p. 12.
Range: north coast of Cuba; St. Vincent; Grenadines; Barbados; Para, Brazil.
Depth: 161 to 798 m (88 to 387 fm).
Habitat: coral, shell, and rock bottoms.
Remarks: Listed from Brazil by Coelho and Ramos (1972).
Lifoinja Leach, 1815
Libinia dubia H. Milne Edwards, 1834 (Hist. Nat. Crust., vol. 1, p. 300)
Hay & Shore, 1918, p. 456, pi. 38, fig. 5; Rathbun, 1925, p. 313, text-figs. 105-106,
pis. 114-115, 122, fig. 1; Williams, 1965, p. 252, figs. 232, 233G; Felder, 1973a,
p. 52, pi. 7, fig. 8.
Range: Cape Cod, Massachusetts to south Florida; Bahamas; Florida Keys;
west Florida to south Texas; Cuba; off Gabon, western Africa.
Depth: shallow water to 46 m (to 25 fm).
Habitat: primarily on mud and mud-sand substrates; also on sand, gravel, and
shell bottoms; often near shore and occasionally in tide pools. Juveniles are usually
covered with hydroids, ascidians, sponges, etc., but older adults are almost
always clean.
Remarks: Gulf reports of this species may be confused with those for L.
emarginata, especially records of juveniles for which identification is difficult
and further complicated by the variety of attached organisms. Regional lists
include Florida (Wass, 1955; Tabb and Manning, 1961; Dragovich and Kelly,
1964; Lyons et al., 1971; Menzel, 1971), Mississippi (Richmond, 1962; Christmas
and Langley, 1973), Louisiana (Behre, 1950; Hoese and Valentine, 1972),
and Texas (Leary, 1967). Fotheringham and Brunenmeister (1975) describe
some aspects of natural history for this crab in the Gulf.
Tabb and Manning (1961) found that larger adults were prevalent in the
sponge-algae areas of Florida Bay, whereas smaller individuals were more common
in the Thalassia beds. Wass (1955) states that this species is more common
than L. emarginata in the shallower harbor and bay waters, but that the reverse
is true in the more marine outer waters of northwest Florida. This crab occurred
in salinity ranges of 20.4 to 39 ppt in Texas bays after a drought (Hoese, 1960)
and down to 12 ppt at Crystal River, Florida (Lyons et al., 1971). In Tampa
Bay, juveniles are common on Gracilaria beds and this species is the most common
spider crab of the area (Dragovich and Kelly, 1964). Ovigerous females
have been reported in Florida from January to July (Dragovich and Kelly, 1964;
Lyons e/a/., 1971).
Several authors have commented on the presence of young L. dubia in or on the
cabbagehead jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris. Corrington (1927) and Gutsell
(1928) record this relationship in Carolina waters and Williams (1965) states
that small crabs have been found in the genital pits and subumbrellar space.