Munidopsis alaminos Pequegnat & Pequegnat, 1970

Kilgour, Morgan J. & Shirley, Thomas C., 2014, Reproductive biology of galatheoid and chirostyloid (Crustacea: Decapoda) squat lobsters from the Gulf of Mexico, Zootaxa 3754 (4), pp. 381-419 : 404

Munidopsis alaminos Pequegnat & Pequegnat, 1970

Munidopsis alaminos has been reported from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean in depths of 428 to 828 m ( Pequegnat & Pequegnat 1970, 1971; Navas et al. 2003). We studied specimens collected from within the published range in depths of 475 to 786 m. Eight males (CW range 4.1 to 10.2 mm), five non-ovigerous females (CW ranged from 5.1 to 7.1 mm), and six ovigerous females were measured (CW ranged from 7.5 to 10.8 mm). Males and females were not significantly different in size (t-test, df = 17, t = -0.890, p = 0.386). Specimens were collected in all months but January, June, October, and December; ovigerous females were collected from May through November excluding June ( Fig. 12 D) suggesting a reproductive periodicity. Ovigerous females were significantly larger than non-ovigerous females (t-test, df = 9, t = 4.573, p = 0.001). Fecundity was not significantly correlated with size for M. alaminos (R2 = 0.0607, p = 0.638) nor was average egg size correlated with CW (R2 = 0.123, p = 0.495). The smallest average egg diameter was removed from the dataset because it was half of all the other egg diameters and the measurement scale could not be verified; CW was correlated with the average egg size (R2 = 0.757, p = 0.055). Females had between one and 73 eggs with the average egg diameter between 0.98 mm and 1.34 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Number of specimens of each species collected for each month. Gray bars are males, white bars are females, and black bars are ovigerous females.