CRABS (BRACHYURA) OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Crabs of ihe Gulf of Mexico 75
pis. 39-60; Rathbun, 1933, p. 50; Williams, 1963, p. 173, fig. 133; Felder, 1973a,
p. 55, pi. 8, fig. 4.
Range: Massachusetts to North Carolina; Bermuda; east coast of Florida;
Florida Keys and Tirj Tortugas; west coast of Florida to Tabasco, Mexico; Jamaica;
Puerto Rico; Dominica to St. Lucia; Belize to Colombia; Curagao; Ceara
to Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Depth: shore to 68 m (to 37 fm).
Habitat: in surf zone of sandy beaches; an adroit swimmer, it is seldom
washed ashore and it is rarely found in estuaries and back lagoons.
Remarks: Williams (1965) lists ovigerous females from Florida in August.
Regional lists include Florida (Wass, 1955; Abele, 1970; Menzel, 1971), Mississippi
(Richmond, 1962), off the Mississippi Delta (Chace, 1956), Louisiana
(Behre, 1950; Hoese and Valentine, 1972), Texas (Gunter, 1950, Hildebrand,
1954), and the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (Fotheringham and Brunenmeister,
1975). Listed from Brazil by Coelho and Ramos (1972).
Callinecles Stimpson, 1860
(This commercially important genus has bL;en revised and reviewed
by Williams (1974a), including details of reproductive morphology,
notes on larA^al development, fossil records, a discussion of zoogeographic
affinities, and keys for the identification of the 14 species known worldwide.
In the Gulf region, as well as elsewhere, confusion has existed as
to the identity of the lesser or smaller blue crab species, cited locally as
Callinectes danae and C. ornatus. A prior revision by Williams (1966)
established a new species, C. similis, for the Gulf populations and many
of the east coast specimens, limiting the former two species to the southeastern
Gulf and beyond. The present list includes eight species in the
Gulf of Mexico, five of which occur only in the eastern or southern margins
of the region. Only C. ralhhunae is endemic to the Gulf; C. sapidus
and C. similis range widely along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts and
beyond (see Figures 24-27 in Williams, 1974a).)
Callinectes bocourti A. Milne Edwards, 1879 (Crust. Reg. Mex., p. 226)
Rathbun, 1930, p. 128, text-figs. 15g, 16e, 17h, 18f, pi. 55; Rathbun, 1933, p. 49;
Holthuis, 1959, p. 201, text-fig. 47, pi. 3, fig. 2; Chace & Hobbs, 1969, p. 127,
text-figs. 35, 37a; Williams, 1974a, p. 767, figs. 12,18j, 20m, 22j, 27.
Range: southeast Florida; Mississippi (rare); Jamaica; Hispaniola; Puerto
Rico; Dominica; Virgin Islands to Barbados; Trinidad; Netherlands Antilles;
Belize to Panama; Colombia to Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Depth: shallow water, near shore and inshore waters.
Habitat: in shallow, brackish waters of estuaries and river mouths. Tolerates
salinities as low as 5 ppt; females usually move to saltier waters after mating.
Williams (1974a) notes that this species is often associated with C. sapidus, but
appears to be more tolerant than the latter to stagnant and polluted waters.
Collected from a mud bottom in 3 m of water in Biloxi Bay, Mississippi (Perry,
1973). See Chace and Hobbs (1969) for extensive habitat notes in Dominica.