Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857)

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 163

Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857)

( Fig. 38 G, Pl. 5 D)

Hippa analoga, 1857a: 85 . — Holmes 1900: 103.

Emerita analoga . — Rathbun 1904: 168. — Schmitt 1921: 173 (extensive synonymy). — Johnson & Snook 1927: 341, figs. 289–290. — MacGinitie & MacGinitie 1968: 301, figs. 145–148. — Haig et al. 1970: 25. — Haig & Abbott 1980: 581, fig. 24.4. — Hart 1982: 164, fig. 64. — Ricketts et al. 1985: 252, fig. 204. — Jensen 1995: 77, fig. 155. — Kuris et al. 2007: 648, pl. 326 D.

Diagnosis. Body egg-shaped. Carapace with fine transverse striations on anterior half, front with 3 broad teeth, lateral margins without teeth. Eyestalk long, slender; cornea pigmented. Both pairs antennae setose, antennal flagella long, with double rows of setae, capable of being folded beneath mouth parts. First pereopods flattened, not chelate. Pereopods 2–4 flattened, dactyls curved. Abdominal somites decreasing in size, ending in arrowheadshaped telson. Uropods well developed. Carapace length to 35 mm.

Color in life. Carapace greenish to gray with fine stripes of light color anteriorly, with two white dots posteriorly on light colored mid-dorsal area, lateral areas pink. First pereopods pink, white, other pereopods mostly pink. Abdomen gray, telson white, with two pink stripes.

Habitat and depth. Surf-swept sandy beaches, mostly in intertidal zone.

Range. Usually from Oregon to Mexico, rarely as far north as Karluk, Kodiak I., Alaska. Records from Peru, Chile and Argentina probably belong to another species (J. Haig, pers. comm.). Type locality "California.” ( Many of Stimpson's specimens came from the area of San Francisco to Monterey, California) .

Remarks. This small crab is an important prey item for nearshore fishes and shorebirds, as well as a muchused item of bait. Haig & Abbott (1980) gave extensive references on this crab.