Ab. Williams et Fc. Dobbs, A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF CARIDEAN SHRIMP (CRUSTACEA, DECAPODA, BRESILIIDAE) FROM HYDROTHERMAL VENTS ON LOIHI SEAMOUNT, HAWAII, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 108(2), 1995, pp. 228-237
Opaepele loihi, new genus and species, is described from hydrothermal
vents on Loihi Seamount, Hawaii, a mid-plate, hot-spot volcano at 18 d
egrees 55'N, 155 degrees 16'W, 980 m depth. This new form is related t
o several other bresiliid shrimps associated with hydrothermal vents,
brine and hydrocarbon seeps. It has a laterally broadened triangular r
ostrum inconspicuously toothed on dorsal and ventral margins, carapace
with pterygostomian spine present, and eyes reduced and fused mesiall
y. This combination of characters places it in an intermediate positio
n between a group of species in the genus Alvinocaris Williams & Chace
with well developed compressed toothed rostrum, carapace with pterygo
stomian spine present, and eyes on separate movable stalks, and a grou
p of species with rostrum absent (genus Rimicaris Williams) or much re
duced (genus Chorocaris Martin & Hessler), carapace with pterygostomia
n spine absent, and eyestalks reduced and fused mesially. Only two of
the vent/seep bresiliid species are now known from depths less than 10
00 m, A. stactophila Williams, from hydrocarbon seeps at 5 34 m in the
Gulf of Mexico, and the present new species at 980 m.