A Red Sea Depth Record of the Coral-Dwelling Crab <i>Opecarcinus</i> (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
Affiliations
Silvia Vimercati
Marine Science Program, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Sancia E. T. van der Meij
Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
Tullia I. Terraneo
KAUST Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Giovanni Chimienti
KAUST Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Fabio Marchese
KAUST Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Ameer A. Eweida
Marine Conservation Program, NEOM, Tabuk 49643, Saudi Arabia
Sam J. Purkis
Center of Carbonate Research, Department of Marine Geosciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA
Mattie Rodrigue
OceanX, 37 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018, USA
Francesca Benzoni
Marine Science Program, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
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.
