Faunistic analysis of the caridean shrimps inhabiting seagrasses along the NW coast of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are highly productive and ecologically important habitats in estuaries and coastal lagoons, and contain a variety of faunal communities, from which the caridean shrimps are a dominant component. The purpose of this work was to analyze the environmental parameters of water and sediments, with the biological components in seagrass epifaunal communities, from the Western Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. For this, density and diversity of caridean shrimps were analyzed and correlated with environmental parameters and seagrass biomass, and zoogeographic affinities were determined. The spatial distribution of caridean shrimps was recorded for 12 localities with Halodule wrightii and Thalassia testudinum monospecific seagrass meadows. A total of 72 158 individuals of 16 taxa were collected. Among results, the Hippolytidae resulted the most abundant group (92.3%) with eight species, and was followed by Palaemonidae with 7.6% of the abundance and seven species, and the Alpheidae with only one genus. From the total of collected carideans, a 37.3% was found in H. wrightii and 62.7% in T. testudinum. The dominant species were Hippolyte zostericola (12.39ind./m 2 ), Tozeuma carolinense (9.5ind./m 2 ), Thor dobkini (4.84ind./m 2 ) and Palaemonetes vulgaris (4.87ind./m 2 ). The zoogeographic distribution of the carideans presented two groups: species of the Virginian-Carolinean province representing its Southern limit (43.75%) and species of the Brazilian-Caribbean province representing its Northern limit (56.25%). The species H. zostericola, T. carolinense, P. vulgaris, P. pugio and P. intermedius are widely distributed along the Western Atlantic coast. This study has base line information for seagrass habitats, the community of epifaunal carideans and their ecological affinities, previous to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Rev. Biol. Trop. 60 (3): 1161-1175. Epub 2012 September 01.

Updated checklist of estuarine caridean shrimps (Decapoda: Caridea) from the southern region of Laguna Madre, Tamaulipas, Mexico, with new records and a key for taxonomic identification

“…As a result, not only their diversity, richness, and habitat-associated distribution patterns have been documented, as well as their biomass and variations of density (Barba-Macías 1999, 2012, Barba-Macías et al 2005), but also species lists (Rodrí-guez et al 2000 and restoration assessments of submerged aquatic vegetation-covered areas have been done (Sheridan and Minello 2003, Sheridan 2004, King and Sheridan 2006. This study reports 12 caridean shrimp taxa, showing a higher species richness than most previous studies in the system (Barba-Macías 1999, 2012, Barba-Macías et al 2005), but not as many species (14) as recorded by Leija-Tristán et al (2000). The observed richness is due to the influence of tropical and subtropical waters masses from Caribbean-Carolinian marine provinces, which explains the convergence of different types of fauna (Barba-Macías et al 2012).…”

“…Distribution. Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, to Port Aransas, Texas (Holthuis 1952); Laguna de Mecoacán, Tabasco; Laguna de Términos, Campeche; Bahía de la Ascensión, Quintana Roo; Isla Arenas, Yucatán, México (Chace 1972, Williams 1984, Román-Contreras 1988, Domínguez et al 2003, Barba-Macías et al 2005, Wicksten 2005a, Barba-Macías 2012.…”

“…Hildebrand (1958), Barba-Macías (1999), Leija-Tristán et al (2000), Rodríguez-Almaraz et al (2000), Sheridan and Minello (2003, Laguna Madre of Texas), Barba-Macías et al (2005), Barba-Macías (2012).…”

“…Distribution. Quebec; near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; Newcastle and East Brunswick, Maine; northern Massachusetts to Texas; intermittent from Verte River, 3 miles to the west of St Modeste (Holthuis 1952, Williams 1974, Abele and Kim 1986); islands and coastal lagoons from Veracruz to Campeche; Puerto Progreso, Yucatán; Akumal, Quintana Roo (Zarur 1962, Román-Contreras 1988, Domínguez et al 2003, Barba-Macías et al 2005, Barba-Macías 2012.…”

“…They have ecological relevance due to their presence in a great variety of habitats (Bauer 2004). In coastal estuaries, they represent a numerically abundant component, playing an important role as links that transfer energy to higher levels of the food web , recycling nutrients through fecal depositions and contributing to the maintenance of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitats (Barba-Macías 2012).…”