Rochinia crassa (A. Milne-Edwards, 1879)

Martin, Joel W. & Haney, Todd A., 2005, Decapod crustaceans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: a review through 2005, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (4), pp. 445-522 : 497-498

ROCHINIA CRASSA (A. MILNE- EDWARDS, 1879)

Type locality: Between Cuba and Florida, 24°15′N, 82°13′W ( Williams, 1984) .

Known range: Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts, to Gulf of Mexico off southern Texas; northern Cuba; west of Cabo de la Vela, Colombia; off French Guiana ( Williams, 1984), north to Nova Scotia, Canada ( Moriyasu et al., 2001).

Material: Abundant non-vent specimens of this relatively common species are housed at the USNM (e.g. see Williams, 1984) and presumably at other institutions. No known specimens have been collected at or near vent or seep sites.

Remarks: Rochinia crassa (A. Milne-Edwards) , the ‘inflated spider crab’ ( McLaughlin et al., 2005), is a relatively deep-water majid found on soft bottoms in the western Atlantic at depths of 66–1216 m from Canada (Nova Scotia) to Cuba, including the Gulf of Mexico ( Williams, 1984; Moriyasu et al., 2001). MacDonald et al. (1989: 241) identified this species from still photographs and video tapes taken of ‘common slope fauna’ in the vicinity of a hydrocarbon seep (the Bush Hill site) off Louisiana in the northern Gulf of Mexico, where it was also reported by MacAvoy et al. (2002) and Bergquist et al. (2003). Carney (1994) reported this species from the same area.

FAMILY PORTUNIDAE RAFINESQUE, 1815