Paralithodes californiensis ( Benedict, 1895 )

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 168

Paralithodes californiensis ( Benedict, 1895)

( Fig. 39H, Pl. 6F)

Lithodes californiensis Benedict, 1895: 483 . — Holmes 1900: 131.

Paralithodes californiensis . — Bouvier 1896: 23. — Schmitt 1921: 161, pl. 25, pl. 30, figs. 1, 2. — Goodwin 1952: 178, fig. 10. — MacGinitie & MacGinitie 1968: 300. — Anderson & Cailliet 1974: 29. — Wicksten 1982: 245; 1989b: 314. — Dawson 1989: 318.

Diagnosis. Carapace longer than wide, with long spines on dorsal regions, margins of carapace; one large spine each above origins of pereopods 3, 4. Spines more pronounced in juveniles than in adults. Rostrum bifid, with two subrostral spines extending to end of cornea of eye. Chelipeds slender, spinous. Pereopods 2–4 elongate, spinous. Abdomen with membranous medial area. Carapace length 95 mm.

Color in life. Orange with bluish-white spines. The color notes are from a crab taken off southern California.

Habitat and depth. Mud or rocks, 145–300 m.

Range. Off Pismo Beach to off San Diego, California. Type locality off Santa Cruz I., California.

Remarks. This lithodid crab serves as host or substrate for other species. The gammarid amphipod Commensipleustes commensalis (Shoemaker, 1952) has been found on the carapace. Eggs of a snailfish, Careproctus sp. , have been found in the gill chambers of this crab (Anderson & Cailliet 1974). Some larger crabs had cocoons of marine leeches on the carapace. The crab may be parasitized by rhizocephalan cirripeds.