NEW MARINE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS FROM WATERS INFLUENCED BY HYDROTHERMAL DISCHARGE, BRINE, AND HYDROCARBON SEEPAGE

Abstract

Five species of decapod crustaceans new to science are described. These are caridean shrimps of the family Bresiliidae—Alvinocaris markensis from a Mid-Atlantic Rift Valley hydrothermal field, A. muricola from a cold brine seep at the foot of the West Florida Escarpment in the Gulf of Mexico, and A. stactophila from a hydrocarbon seep on the continental slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a key to the species of Alvinocaris; a squat lobster of the family Galatheidae—Munidopsis alvisca from the Guaymas Basin and from the Juan de Fuca and Explorer ridges in the eastern Pacific; and a brachyuran crab of the family Bythograeidae—Bythograea mesatlantica from a Mid-Atlantic Rift Valley hydrothermal field. Species of both Alvinocaris and Bythograea are now known from the eastern Pacific and Mid-Atlantic. Munidopsis species are widely represented in the world oceans.