Distribution and biology of Indo-Pacific insular hypogeal shrimps

Bulletin of Marine Science
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Abstract

Ten species of caridean shrimps, representing nine genera in five families, have been found in exposures of the marine water table at 28 islands from Hawaii to the western Indian Ocean. Synthesis of literature information and personal observations indicate that, as a group, these shrimps are characterized by red body pigment, reduced but pigmented eyes, euryhalinity, a proclivity for interstitial seawater in limestone or lava rock, generalized food requirements, and probable pre-Pleistocene origins. The shrimps have not been found in waters cooler than about 20°C.

Species are often solitary, but as many as five are known to coexist. Six of the species have widely scattered populations, some as far apart as Hawaii and the Red Sea. Passive oceanic dispersal is endorsed as a general explanation for such apparently disjunct distributions. On the basis of an assumed primary habitat requirement of interstitial marine water, which could include that in shallow submerged rock as well as that in emergent (insular) rock, I hypothesize a much more cosmopolitan distribution of these shrimps in the Indo-Pacific Tropical Zone.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Distribution and biology of Indo-Pacific insular hypogeal shrimps
Series title Bulletin of Marine Science
Volume 33
Issue 3
Year Published 1983
Language English
Publisher AllenPress
Contributing office(s) Western Fisheries Research Center
Description 13 p.
First page 606
Last page 618
Other Geospatial Indo-Pacific
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