A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab Opecarcinus (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) in the Mesophotic Zone

Silvia Vimercati; Sancia E.T. van der Meij; Tullia I. Terraneo; Giovanni Chimienti; Fabio Marchese; Ameer A. Eweida; Sam J. Purkis; Mattie Rodrigue; Francesca Benzoni

doi:10.3390/d15060723

A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab Opecarcinus (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) in the Mesophotic Zone

Silvia Vimercati^*, Sancia E.T. van der Meij, Tullia I. Terraneo, Giovanni Chimienti, Fabio Marchese, Ameer A. Eweida, Sam J. Purkis, Mattie Rodrigue, Francesca Benzoni^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) are obligate symbionts of stony corals and occur on shallow and deep reefs across the tropical belt. The circumtropical genus Opecarcinus associates with Agariciidae corals, a dominant component of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs). Here, we report the first Red Sea mesophotic record, with 89 m as the deepest record to date, for Opecarcinus—collected from Leptoseris cf mycetoseroides—from the NEOM marine area in Saudi Arabia. This observation reconfirms the depth range flexibility of Opecarcinus species and highlights the need for further mesophotic explorations of reef-associated fauna.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	723
Journal	Diversity
Volume	15
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060723
State	Published - Jun 2023

Keywords

coral symbionts
Crustacea
distribution record
gall crabs
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem (MCE)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology
Ecological Modeling
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Nature and Landscape Conservation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3390/d15060723

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@article{86f11679544f4fd89bb343c11340b7c1,

title = "A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab Opecarcinus (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) in the Mesophotic Zone",

abstract = "Coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) are obligate symbionts of stony corals and occur on shallow and deep reefs across the tropical belt. The circumtropical genus Opecarcinus associates with Agariciidae corals, a dominant component of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs). Here, we report the first Red Sea mesophotic record, with 89 m as the deepest record to date, for Opecarcinus—collected from Leptoseris cf mycetoseroides—from the NEOM marine area in Saudi Arabia. This observation reconfirms the depth range flexibility of Opecarcinus species and highlights the need for further mesophotic explorations of reef-associated fauna.",

keywords = "coral symbionts, Crustacea, distribution record, gall crabs, Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem (MCE)",

author = "Silvia Vimercati and {van der Meij}, {Sancia E.T.} and Terraneo, {Tullia I.} and Giovanni Chimienti and Fabio Marchese and Eweida, {Ameer A.} and Purkis, {Sam J.} and Mattie Rodrigue and Francesca Benzoni",

note = "Funding Information: The research expedition was funded by NEOM. The material and KAUST team logistics and molecular analyses were supported by KAUST (award FCC/1/1973-50-01 and baseline research funds to F. Benzoni). G. Chimienti was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PON 2014–2020, Grant AIM 1807508-1, Linea 1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors.",

year = "2023",

month = jun,

doi = "10.3390/d15060723",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "15",

journal = "Diversity",

issn = "1424-2818",

publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",

number = "6",

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T1 - A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab Opecarcinus (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) in the Mesophotic Zone

AU - Vimercati, Silvia

AU - van der Meij, Sancia E.T.

AU - Terraneo, Tullia I.

AU - Chimienti, Giovanni

AU - Marchese, Fabio

AU - Eweida, Ameer A.

AU - Purkis, Sam J.

AU - Rodrigue, Mattie

AU - Benzoni, Francesca

N1 - Funding Information: The research expedition was funded by NEOM. The material and KAUST team logistics and molecular analyses were supported by KAUST (award FCC/1/1973-50-01 and baseline research funds to F. Benzoni). G. Chimienti was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PON 2014–2020, Grant AIM 1807508-1, Linea 1). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

PY - 2023/6

Y1 - 2023/6

N2 - Coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) are obligate symbionts of stony corals and occur on shallow and deep reefs across the tropical belt. The circumtropical genus Opecarcinus associates with Agariciidae corals, a dominant component of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs). Here, we report the first Red Sea mesophotic record, with 89 m as the deepest record to date, for Opecarcinus—collected from Leptoseris cf mycetoseroides—from the NEOM marine area in Saudi Arabia. This observation reconfirms the depth range flexibility of Opecarcinus species and highlights the need for further mesophotic explorations of reef-associated fauna.

AB - Coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) are obligate symbionts of stony corals and occur on shallow and deep reefs across the tropical belt. The circumtropical genus Opecarcinus associates with Agariciidae corals, a dominant component of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs). Here, we report the first Red Sea mesophotic record, with 89 m as the deepest record to date, for Opecarcinus—collected from Leptoseris cf mycetoseroides—from the NEOM marine area in Saudi Arabia. This observation reconfirms the depth range flexibility of Opecarcinus species and highlights the need for further mesophotic explorations of reef-associated fauna.

KW - coral symbionts

KW - Crustacea

KW - distribution record

KW - gall crabs

KW - Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem (MCE)

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U2 - 10.3390/d15060723

DO - 10.3390/d15060723

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85164199683

SN - 1424-2818

VL - 15

JO - Diversity

JF - Diversity

IS - 6

M1 - 723

ER -

A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab Opecarcinus (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) in the Mesophotic Zone

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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