Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Occurrence of anomuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) in hydrothermal vent and cold-seep communities: a review

1997; Elsevier BV; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0967-0653(97)83844-6

1878-6731

Pierre Chevaldonné, Karine Olu,

Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies

—Crabs of the family Lithodidae are frequently encountered in the vicinity of deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold-seeps. Together with crabs of the families Galatheidae and Chirostylidae, they are the main contributors to the scavenging/predatory fauna of these highly productive areas, and a potential vector for the export of organic carbon to the surrounding deep-sea communities. A review of the literature indicates that anomuran crabs have been reported from such environments since their discovery, and occur virtually anywhere a reducing habitat is found. These three families are represented by at least eight genera, with at least 14 species occurring in hot vent areas, and eight in cold-seep associated communities. Two species of lithodid crabs have recently been reported from the south Barbados accretionary prism cold-seeps at depths of 1200-1700 m (Macpherson 1994). In addition to the description of a new species, Paralomis arethusa, Macpherson mentioned that his new species and Lithodes manningi Macpherson, 1988, were the first records of the family Lithodidae to be found in hydrothermal vent and coldseep areas. However, a review of the literature showed that occurrence of lithodid crabs in such environments has been known at least since 1985 (Suess et al. 1985). The taxonomic literature on deep-sea hydrothermal vent and cold-seep organisms often lacks ecological data, and ecological surveys frequently present vague taxonomic information. This review is intended to demonstrate that the Anomura are a particularly well represented group in deep-sea chemosynthetically-based ecosystems, and to present a literature survey of the species and accompanying information relevant to biogeographic studies. Vents and seeps are environments where biomass and biological production are high compared to that of the surrounding abyssal plains, due to utilization of the expelled reduced compounds by chemoautotrophic microorganisms that constitute the first step of a trophic web independent from sea-surface production. Although organisms exclusively dependent on fluid emissions usually dominate these communities and live close to the expelled fluids, other inhabitants of the neighboring deep-sea environment are attracted by the high food supply and enter these environments. Like anomurans, most of these organisms are filter-feeders, scavengers, or predators. As top predators/scavengers, anomurans are rivalled only in some cases, in particular by the hydrothermal-endemic brachyuran crab family Bythograeidae. Infraorder Anomura Superfamily Paguroidea (sensu Forest 1987) This superfamily comprises the Lithodidae and two families of hermit crabs. Pa-