Seasonal occurrence and distribition of brachyuran crabs caught along the Suez Canal, Egypt.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Marine Sci., Fac. of Sci., Port Said Univ., Port Said, Egypt

2 Department of Marine Sci., Fac. of Sci., Suez Canal Univ., Ismailia, Egypt.

Abstract

The present study aimed to document the brachyuran crab fauna caught by
fishing nets operating in the Suez Canal and study their occurrence and seasonal
distribution along the canal during the period from April 2011 to March 2012. Five
sampling locations were selected representing the known landing sites along the
canal. Eleven species of crabs belonging to nine families were recorded, of them
Dorippe quadridens and Cryptodromia hilgendorfi are recorded for the first time in
the Suez Canal. The blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus was the most distributed
species in the study sites, followed by the spider crab Hyastenus hilgendorfi, while
Coleusia signata and Cryptodromia hilgendorfi were the least common species. The
present study discussed the seasonal occurrence and distribution of the recorded
species and compared them with the previous studies conducted on the Suez Canal.
The study recommended continuous monitoring of the brachyuran crabs fauna
together with other crustaceans inhabiting the canal in order to provide an updated
inventory and establish a database for the fauna of this unstable environment.

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