A review of spider majid of the northern Arabian Sea, with particular reference to Pakistani species, and with description of an undescribed Pleistacantha

Item Type article

Authors Kazmi, Q.B.

Download date 02/10/2021 05:34:47

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/34427 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 79-91, 1997.

A REVIEW OF SPIDER MAJID CRABS OF THE NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PAKISTANI SPECIES, AND WITH DESCRIPTION OF AN UNDESCRIBED PLEISTACANTHA

Quddusi B. Kazmi Marine Reference Collection and Resource Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT: The present report deals with the history of work done on northern Arabian Sea majids, their zoogeographical consideration and recognition of present status of certain genera which are established by recent workers. I have nothing of substance to add to previous treatment by Griffin & Tranter (1986). Emphasis is given to species inhabiting coastal waters of Pakistan. The occurrence of the Pleistacantha in the Arabian Sea and its adjacent gulfs is discussed in detail due to presence of a unique female which was taken by Fridtj of Nansen Cruise in 1977. This seems to be an undescribed species. At the moment the female is just given as Pleistacantha spl till more specimens obtained determine its position. Some interesting features of Doc/ea muricata are also considered.

KEYWORDS: Spider majid crabs, northern Arabian Sea, Pakistan, undescribed Pleistacantha.

HISTORY OF WORK DONE The area under study (Map) has been investigated for the crabs earlier by Alcock (1895), during the Indian RIMSS Investigator cruises - a study which still stands amongst the most notable contributions made to the Indian Ocean carcinology. Borradaile (1903) and Rathbun (1911) also studied the majids of the western Indian Ocean. Kohli (1922) reported only two species of majid crabs from Karachi: pleione and Maja gibba. Stephenson (1945) secured several species from Baluchistan coast during Danish Investigation. Barnard's study (1950) for South African crabs needs no emphasis. From the west coast of India Sankarankutty (1961), Pillai (1949, 1951),, Chhapgar (1957, 1958, 1961) and Chandy (1973) carried out systematics of tliese crabs along with some other crabs. Sankolli & Shenoy (1975) reported the presence of Doclea hybrida and also traced its larval history; Chhapgar (1956), Kakati & Sankolli (1975a,b), Kakati & Nayak (1979) and Krishnan & Kannupandi (1987, 1988) also worked on majid larvae from the same region. Guinot (1967) in her list of Brachyura from the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea included 93 majid crabs. During the International Ocean Expedition (1966), the RV Anton Bruun (Cruise 4B) zigzagged along the west coast of India; the then west Pakistan and the northern Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Oman. During this cruise eleven spider crabs were collected from the Arabian Sea and twenty-seven from the western Indian Ocean (Griffin, 1974). Guinot & Richer de Forges (1985) while studying the deep sea majids, collected during MUSORSTOM I and II cruises in the Philippines, reviewed the genus Pleistacantha, their study includes P. oryx collected from the Persian Gulf housed in BMNH. 80 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

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In 1986 Griffin & Tranter thoroughly reviewed the Inda-west Pacific spider fauna. They rearranged several genera and explored appropriate alignmen{ of certain genera between the subfamilies which is generally accepted. The changes they made in the following northern Arabian Sea genera and species are, a) the new inachine genus Sunipea was proposed by them for the species Apocremnus indicus Alcock, 1895, later placed by Griffin (1974) in the genus Aepinus. b) Two other species. were placed by Griffin & Tranter in the Inachinae, be it with some doubts: Encephaloides armstrongi Wood-Mason, 1891 (type of the genus Encephaloides) and Collodes malabaricus Alcock, 1895. According to these authors Encephaloides might belong to the , while C. malabaricus probabaly is not a Collodes, but 11 right ~enus or even perhaps the right subfamily 11 was considered uncertain by Griffin & Tranter. c) the . epialtine species reported by Tirmizi & Serene (1971) as Acanthonyx aff. elongatus Miers, 1844 from Karachi, was relegated by Griffin & Tranter to the synonymy of Acanthonyx elongatus; the same specimens have been redescribed as A. elongatus inglei (see Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988). d) Griffin & Tranter synonymized two genera of tychines, Stilbognathus von Martens, 1866 and Ophthalmias Rathbun, 1897 and used the oldest name, Stilbognathus. e) they considered the material from the Lakshadweep Islands identified as Huenia proteus (De Haan, 1830) by Borradaile (1903) and by Sankarankutty (1961) to be not that species but Huenia brevifrons Ward, 1941. f) the pisine species which was reported by Chhapgar (1957) as Hyastenus planasius from Bombay was not considered to be correctly identified; Griffin & Tranter considered its position uncertain, they possibly overlooked the recordes .of H. planasius from Karachi by Hashmi (1963), Ahmad (1975). g) the material from west of Bombay identified by Kazmi: A review.of spider majid crabs 81

Griffin (1974) as Hyas~~nus ovatus is now placed in the genus La.haina. h) the species previously reports as Hyastenus (Chorilia) gracilirostris. was assigned a new genus Giranauria and comments were made that the species has an unusual disjunct distribution; i) the majine species Paramithrax (Chlorinoides) aculeatus reported by Chhapgar (1957) from Bombay, was transfered to a new genus Thacanophrys, surprisingly in the distribution of the species Bombay is not mentioned. Though Griffin & Tranter ( 1986) described a large number of new species and their work showed many range extensions still they correctly remarked that the record of majid species and their distribution in the Indo-west Pacific region is still incompletely known Stevcic (1994) has a somewhat similar opinion that "a general revision is badly needed". Wagner (1986) reported four species of Doclea from the northern Arabian Sea including his new D. aduncus based on the Pakistani material; Doclea gracilipes, which was treated as synonymous with D. rissonii by Wagner 1986), was retained as valid by Griffin & Tranter (1986). Further Doclea hybrida though considered by Sankolli & Shenoy (1975) as a valid species was merged with D. muricata by Wagner (1986). The last author is followed here. Hogarth's work of 1989 from Oman includes some extension of previously known ranges and some doubtfully identified species of majids. He also refers to Titgen's unpublished thesis (1982) on the of Dubai and their relationship with the western Indian Ocean species, this is not available to me except an abstract of a paper on crabs (Titgen, 1986). All these studies did not deal with the Oregoniinae since these are boreal . With the emergence of Pakistan in 1947 and an increased interest in the knowledge of marine fauna of the country, smaller and more local studies were made, The history of Pakistan carcinology has been briefly sketched by Tirmizi (1980). Subsequently, Tirmizi & Kazmi ( 1988) gave a more detailed and critical review of the Pakistani 'nonbrachyrhynchan' crabs. However, it is considered worthwhile, from a standpoint of historical interest to mention here the Pakistani publications in so far as they concern majids. The earliest contribution known to me is by Hashmi (1963-64) who published two check lists of Pakistani crabs, of which four were majids, but no mention was made of any repository. Karim (1973) added to the majid crab fauna of Pakistan by reporting Doclea muricata. Ahmed et al (1973) and Khan & Ahmad (1975) contributed in the form of check lists with only four majids to their credit; since these lists are unsupported by specimens they are not fully dependable. With the establishment of the Marine Reference Collection & Resource Centre, University of Karachi in 1969, several occasional papers including checklists were published (Tirmizi & Serene, 1971; Tirmizi, 1978; Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1983; Kazmi & Kazmi, 1987) until sixteen majid species were treated in a monographic report (Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988, submitted for publication iri 1986). Eight new records and one sub­ species of majids are dealt there. Among the new records that of Macropodia aff. falcifera is of special interest. This species was previously recorded only from southern Africa and our material strongly resembles, but is not identical with the earlier descriptions of M. falcifera. Later studies added two new records Macropodia formosa and Menaethiops nodulosa and three new species Menaethiops gadaniensis, Cyphocarcinus sargassumi, Pseudomicippe griffini from later collections (Kazmi & 82 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

Tirmizi, 1995; Kazmi & Tirmizi in press). It is believed that more systematic surveys and more sophisticated tools will reveal many more species than hitherto known from Pakistan. For example Thancanophrys aculeatus, Maja spinigera, Maja gibba and Acanthonyx scutellatus reported by Alcock as early as 1885 were not rediscovered by any of the later workers and some species like Hyastenus planasius and Doclea rissonii though reported in the earlier period of Pakistani carcinology were not reported after 1975. Only a single study so far was devoted to the larval development of Pakistani majid crabs, viz., that on Schizophrys aspera by Tirmizi & Kazmi (1987) , in which only two zoeal stages were described. During ongoing experiments the same species was successfully reared to the third crab stage, the comparison of larvae of the same species from other regions of the world, revealed some interestng points which led to erecting a new species S. pakistanensis (Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1995). Studies are currently undertaken on the development of several other species, but so far this work is unpublished. Work on allometric growth of Schizophrys aspera was carried out by Aziz & Kazmi (in press).

DESCRIPTION OF UNDESCRIBED PLEISTACANTHA Pleistacantha sp. 1 (Figs.1-2)

Material studied: MRCC Material: MRC Cat. No.BRAC.521. 1 female, berried, cl.68mm (postrostral), cb.66mm, slightly damaged, body and legs encrusted with corals, barnacles, worm tubes and anemones, data incomplete, 14°53'N, 50"45'E, Mouth of Gulf of Aden. Other material: Pleistacantha? rubida 3 males, BMNH No.1910.4. 20.1-3 (24°49'N, 56°56'E) collected by Calman, 38x28mm. Pleistacantha oryx 2 males, USNM No. 46642, entrance to Gulf of Tokyo, St.5095, 26 October, 1906. Pleistacantha oryx 2 males, 6 females, USNM No.135243, Anton Bruun Sta. 463, Somali Republic; off Cape Guardafui; /11°24,N.051°35,E. 17 Dec., 1964. cl.12.0-23mm. Description: My specimen is still unnamed and is given here as P. sp.1. It is briefly described and illustrated in the following account, and the differences shown by the specimen at hand, though an incomplete one, from P. rubida, P. oryx, P.? rubida/P. pungens are also discussed. The stem of rostrum (Fig.l), before the bifurcation, is medially grooved and armed dorsally, laterally as well as ventrally after the bifurcation, the rostral spines are broken off. The intact part of right rostral prong (Fig.2A) has two ventral spines, quite close to each other, the first one is situated just at the distal extremity of the antennular fossa, the outer wall of which has one small denticle on the right side and two denticles in the same place on the left. The rostral spines diverge. The carapace (Fig.l) is pyriform, the gastric, branchial and cardiac regions are elevated; and the branchial regions are inflated so much so that they approximate in the middle leaving a straight deep channel inbetween. The dorsal surface of the carapace has closely set spines except on the intestinal region where only a few scattered spines are present. A few large spines of symmetrical disposition can also be seen as illustrated .. Kazmi: A review of spider majid crabs 83

Fig.1. Pleistacantha adenicus n. sp., holotype, cl.68 mm.

This seems the appropriate place to point out that 3-4 spines at the outer rim of each branchial region are lodged in sockets. The postorbital spine is conspicuous and has several smaller secondary spines. The eyestalks have rows of long chitinous setae and a small tooth near the cornea on the anterior margin (Fig.2B, B'). The interantennular process (Fig.2B, B') grows into a pair of spines widely separated from each other, the undivided basal portion broadens distally and forms the basal two­ third of the process. The third maxilliped (Fig.2C) has the anterolateral angle of the merus produced into a triangular spined process, the anterior margin is notched in the middle. This form of merus devi(\tes from the typical merus of the genus. Griffin & Tranter (1986) have given their views about the genus Pleistacantha, as very variable, as far as the shape of the merus of third maxilliped is concerned. The cheliped (Fig.1) reaches to the middle of the carpus of the first ambulatory leg. The second leg extends to the proximal half of first leg. The third leg is subequal to the second touching the middle of dactylus of third leg, the fourth one can be extended to the distal end of the propodus of the third leg. The segment.s are covered with short and long spines. All the meri (Fig.2D) end. at each distolateral angle into a triangular lobe. The outer angles of the buccal frame differ on the two sides as illustrated in figure 2B. 84 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

D

Fig.2. Pleistacantha sp.l, holotype, cl.68mm. A, front, lateral view, eye and antennae not shown; B, eyes and front, ventral view; B', same, tilted view; C, third maxilliped; D, distal end of merus of second w·alking leg, dorsal view. Kazmi: A review of spider majid crabs 85

The abdomen is seven-segmented and distantly granulose. The granules of the first somite are prominent. This specimen was initially keyed out to be P. oryx. It did not however match with P. oryx loaned from USNM. The illustrations were sent to Dr. Guinot (Paris Museum). According to her opinion our specimen is a difficult one and very similar to the smaller male of P. rubida from the Persian Gulf, which is not yet finally identified. She suggested to compare our specimen with P. pungens and P. rubida both housed in Calcutta Museum, these however, are not available to us. Anyhow the Persian Gulf specimen of P. rubida was available through courtesy British Museum. The specimen is a very small male. Our specimen is compared with 3 known species of the genus occurring in the Indian Ocean viz. P. rubida from Andaman Sea, P. pungens from Andaman Sea, Madagascar, S'. Africa and a third species P. sp. collected by Calman from the Persian Gulf. (Fide Guinot & Richer de Forges, 1985). The latter was kept in the BMNM but not reported till 1985 when the same authors were finalizing the P. rubida/P. oryx problem. The two species just mentioned were considered synonymous until Guinot & Richer de Forges (1985) re-established P. oryx as a valid species, found only in Japan, China and Philippines, they questioned the reporting of P. oryx from Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman by Griffin (1974), who continuously recognized it as valid (see Griffin & Tranter, 1986). These authors did not mention the decision of separating P. rubida from P. oryx by Guinot & Richer de Forges.(1985), nor did Davie & Short (1989), who simply stated that "P. rubida may also be confused with P. oryx" and also suspected of another species being confused with P. oryx which matures at a much larger size; They seem to be agreeing with Griffin's (1974) reporting of P.oryx from the West Arabian Sea (p.179). From P. rubida it differs in having a pearshaped carapace and large erect spines on the anterior region of the carapace, compound postorbital spines, and both from P. rubida and P. oryx in having approximated branchial regions. In this respect it resembles P. moseley ( =P. pungens) but in other characters such as the subequal spines of the carapace, interantennular spine and the fifth leg it does not match P. moseley. From P. ? rubida it differs in the approximity of the ventral rostral spines which are located farther in P. sp 1 if compared with those of P.? rubida.

ZOOGEOGRAPHY Zoogeography was ttaced for crabs very briefly in 1983 (Tirmizi & Kazmi) and for non-brachyrhynchan crabs of Pakistan including the majids by Kazmi (1988). Now the zoogeographical distribution of the 29 majid genera and 48 species (list) reported from the northern Arabian Sea is briefly discussed. I have taken the northern Arabian Sea from Pakistan in the north and 10°N in the south, and on the east by the coast of Indian subcontinent, in the west only upto the mouths of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden (Map), and refrained from crossing the lower limits i.e. l0.00°N in the south though there were several interesting majid species reported between 9.00°N and 10.00°N, for example the epialtine Sphenocarcinus aurorae Alcock, 1899 which was reported by Kemp & Sewell (1912) from 9°14'10"N, 75°45'E. Guinot & Richter de Forges, 1984 (1985) used its original name but Griffin & Tranter shortly after in 1986 gave under in Pisinae without mention of Guinot & Richter de Forge (1985). 86 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

MAJID CRABS KNOWN FROM THE NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA

Name Source Locality

Subfamily Inachinae 1. Aclweus lacertosus Stimpson, 1907 Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan 2. Achaeus barnardi Griffin, 1968 Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Gulf of Aden (1l 0 24'N,51°35'E) 3. Achaeus laevoiculis Miers, 1884 Griffin, 1974 W. of Bombay (l8°27'N, 71°13'E l 8°28' - 71°09') 4. Camposcia retusa Latreille, 1829 Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan 5. Collodes malabaricus Alcock, 1895 Alcock, 1895, Griffin, 1974 W. of Bombay (as above.) 6. Gryplwchaeus hyalinus Griffin, 1974 Gulf of Oman (Alcock & Anderson, 1894)

7. fnachus dorsettensis (Pennant, 1777) Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Aden (ll 0 24'N, 51°35'E) 8. Macropodia aff.falcifera Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan Stimpson, 1857 9. Macropodia formosa Rathbun, 1911 Kazmi & Tirmizi, 1994 Pakistan IO. Oncinopus neptunus Griffin, 1974 N.E. Arabian Sea Adams & White, 1848 (20°23'N, 7D°OO'E- 20°20'-69°55') 11. Oncinopus aranea (de Haan, 1839) Alcock, 1895 Lakshadweep 12. Pleistacantha oryx Ottmann, 1893 Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Gulf of Aden (l1°24'N, 51°35'E) 13. Pleistacantlw sp.1 FridtjofNansen collection Aden 1977 14. Sunipea indicus (Alcock, 1895) Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Gulf of Aden 15. Majella brevipes Ortmann, 1893 Griffin, 1974 South of mouth Gulf o(Aden Subfamily 16. Acantlwnyx elongatus subsp. inglei Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 17. Acanthonyx limbatus Tirmizi & Kazmi, i 988 Pakistan A. Milne-Edwards, 1862 18. Acanthonyx scutellatus Alcock, 1895 Karachi MacLeay, 1839 19. Huenia brevifrons Ward, 1941 Borradaile, 1903 Lakshadweep Sankarankutty, 1961 (Not Maja (H.) proteus) 20. Huenia grandidierii Barnard, 1950 Somalia A. Milne Edwards, 1865 (Not Maja (H.) proteus) in part

21. Menaethiops bicornis Alcock, 1895 Alcock, 1895 Karachi Kazmi: A review of spider majid crabs 87

22. Menaethiops nodulosa (Nobili, 1906) Hogarth, 1989 S.Oman, Kazmi & Tirmizi, in press Karachi 23. Menaethiops gadaniensis Kazmi & Tirmizi, in press Pakistan 24. Menaethiops contiguicornis Hogarth, 1989 S. Oman (Klunzinger, 1906) 25. Menaethiops ? brevicornis Hogarth, 1989 S. Oman (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868) 26. Simocarcinus simplex (Dana, 1852) Tirmizi, 1978 Pakistan

Subfamily Tychinae 27. Stilbognathus curvicornis Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan Kazmi & Tirmizi, in press

Subfamily Pisinae 28. Doclea muricata (Herbst, 1788) Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan 29. Doclea aduncus Wagner, 1986 Wagner, 1986 Pakistan 30. Doc/ea gracilipes Stimpson, 1857 Chhapgar, 1957 Pakistan Hashmi, 1963; Ahmed et a/.,1978 31. Ci ranauria g racilirostris Rathbun, 1916 Griffin, 1974 West.of Bombay 32. filiformis Rathbun, 1916 Griffin, 197 4 West of Bombay 33. Hyastenus spinosus A.Milne Edwards,1872 Griffin, 1974 N.E. Arabian Sea

34. Hyastenus pleione (Herbst, 1803) Tirmizi & Serene, 1971 Pakistan 35. Hyastenus planasius Hashmi, 1963 Pakistan Adams & White, 1845 36. Lahaina ovatus (Dana, 1891) Griffin, 1974 West of B()mbay 37. Rochinia riverandersoni Alcock, 1891 Alcock, 1895 Malabar coast 38. Encephaloides armstrongi Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Gulf of Wood-Mason, 1891 Aden (11"24'N, 51°35'E) Subfamily Majinae 39. Maja gibba Alcock Kohli, 1922 Karachi 40. Maja spinigera de Haan, 1839 Alcock, 1896 Karachi 41. Pseudomicippe grifinni Kazmi & Tirmizi, in press Pakistan Kazmi & Tirmizi, in press 42. Schizaphrys aspera Hashmi, 1964 Pakistan H.Milne Edwards, 1834 43. Schizophrys pakistanensis Tinruzi & Kazmi, 1995 Pakistan Tirmizi & Kazmi, 1995 44. Thacanophrys aculeaus Chhapgar, 1957 Bombay Milne Edwards, 1834 (=Paramith0rax (Chlorinoildes) aculeatus)

Subfamily Mithracinae 45. Cyphocarcinus sargassumi Kazmi & Tirmizi, 1995 Pakistan Kazmi & Tirmizi, 1995 46. Micippa platipes Ruppel, 1830 Tihnizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan 47. Micippa thalia (Herbst, 1803) Tihnizi & Kazmi, 1988 Pakistan 48. Naxiodes robillardi (Miers, 1882) Griffin, 1974 Mouth of Gulf Aden 88 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

A

G

~_, .. ,.._,,.At.n·(. ""'\_ .. "'.c.,) ~

B

~ \ H ( )

Fig.3. Doclea muricata. A, (female cl.33mm), B. same in lateral view; C, (male cl.40mm) carapace in dorsal view (female cl.33mm), D-G (els 33mm, 40mm) different forms of rostrum, H, male gonopod of juvenile. (cl.35mm), abdominal view; I,l', same right and left in sternal view; J,K, different forms of adult male gonopods (cl.46mm & 33mm respectively), in situ; L,M, female gonopores (cl.42mm & 37mm respectively). Kazmi: A review of spider majid crabs 89

Because the monsoons completely alter the current pattern in the area investigated, especially at the Murray Ridge, and these currents largely determine the fauna, the views represented here only are tentative. The oxygen minimum layer at the mesopelagic zone also effects the marine life. It is suggested that species found on the southwestern coast of India do not propagate northward because of an annual drop in salinity in the waters of Indus River Delta caused by the postmonsoon flood. This may be repellant to several stenohaline species. A maximum salinity measured at depths of 180m to 250m probably formed by the Persian Gulf water may also have some effect on the distribution of the fauna. Out of these 48 species of none seems to be endemic to Pakistan except the subspecies of Acanthonyx elongatus. Seventeen species are restricted to the Indian Ocean (including the gulfs) and only Inachus dorsettensis extends into the Atlantic Ocean. The remaining thirty species are widely distributed to Indo-west Pacific area. Majella brevipes Ortmann which was reported to be distributed from the western Indian Ocean to Japan by Griffin (1974) was given as restricted to Japan by the same author (Griffin & Tranter, 1986: 219) therefore its occurrence at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden becomes doubtful.

NOTE ON DOCLEA MURICATA (HERBST) The gonopods in Doclea muricata (=D. hybrida) show various stages of torsion as a result of difference in moment of the last moult (Fig.3H-J). This phenomenon is very often in spider crabs and may be due to the fact that the physiology of spider crabs leads to a stop in moulting after puberty. This stop can occur in animals that have not yet reached their full size by far. Those individuals subsequently retain a part of their juvenile characters. This results in a set of other very interesting characters besides the gonopods in this species. They are a) carapace (Fig.3A-C); b) rostrum (Fig.3F-G) and c) gonopore (Fig.3L,M).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe my sincere thanks to Prof. L.B. Holthuis of National Museum of Natural History, The Netherlands for improving the MS, to Dr. D. Guinot of Paris for helping me with Pleistacantha sp. and to Dr. D.J. Griffin of Australian Museum who was most helpful throughout my work on majids in various ways. Authorities at British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), London and United States National Museum (USNM), USA kindly loaned out specimens of Pleistacantha for study.

REFERENCES

Alcock, A., 1895. Materials for a carcinological fauna of India. No. I. The Brachyura Oxyrhyncha. Reprinted from Asiatic Society of Bengal, LXIV(l 1) No.2: 157-291, pl.III-V. Aziz, N. & Q.B. Kazmi, in press. Allometric relationship of morphometric characters in Schizophrys aspera (H. Milne Edwards, 1934) (Majidae: Decapoda) from the Karachi coast, Pakistan. Proceedings Workshop on Coastal Aquaculture, April, 1996, Karachi. Barnard, K.H., 1950. Decriptive catalogue of South African Decapod Crustacea (Crabs and Shrimps). Annals South African Museum, 38: 1-837, figs.154. 90 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.6(1&2), 1997.

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(Received: 15 August 1996)