Relevant Synonyms Charybdis (Goniosoma) merguiensis Steinitz, 1929; Monod, 1930, 1931, 1932 Charybdis merguiensis Steinitz, 1933 Charybdis hellery (Kucheruk et al., 1999) (erroneous spelling) Misidentification -  photo : Bella Galil

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace hexagonal, convex. Granulate transverse ridges on frontal, protogastric, mesogastric and branchial regions. Front cut into six triangular teeth, outermost tooth the most acuminate. Antero-lateral margin bearing six teeth, separated by deep notches, anteriormost tooth smallest. Posterior margin straight, postero-lateral angle arched. Basal antennal article expanded, excluding antennal flagellum from orbit. Chelipeds massive, subequal, pubescent; anterior margin of merus prominently trispinose; carpus with strong spine on interior margin, three carinae on external surface; chela bearing four spines on superior surface, single spine near carpal articulation, lower surface smooth. Merus and carpus of fifth leg bearing spine on posterior margin, posterior margin of propodus denticulate, dactyl ovate. First male pleopod tapering, distally spinose, curved distally. color : carapace mottled brownish-grey. Chelipeds with spines distally brown, fingers distally black, tips white. common size : males CL 4.6 cm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Distinguished from the other exotic Charybdis spp. in having lower surface of chela smooth; carpus of fifth leg bearing posterior spine. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Ovigerous females present throughout the year. habitat : 5-50 m, under stones, corals.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Palestine, 1929 [1924-1925]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Indo-West Pacific, Red Sea to New Caledonia; successively invaded the Western Atlantic (Florida to Brazil). Mediterranean : recorded first as Charybdis (Goniosoma) merguiensis from Palestine (Steinitz, 1929 [1924-1925]). Successively recorded from Egypt (Balss, 1936); southern Turkey (Kocatas, 1981a); Lebanon (Shiber, 1981); Syria (Kuznetsov et al., 1993); Cyprus (Zibrowius pers. comm., 1999). Collected between 1996 and 2003, at depths between 3 and 26 m, off Kas Peninsula, off the southwestern coast of Turkey (Yokes and Galil, 2004). Greece, Rhodes Island (Kirimitzoglou et al., 2006). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Common along the Levantine coast. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Presumably via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Crosnier A., 1962. Crustacés décapodes Portunidae. Faune de Madagascar, 16: 1-154. Steinitz W., 1929. Die Wanderung indopazifischer Arten ins Mittelmeer seit Beginn der Quartärperiode. Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie Hydrographie, 22: 1-90. Stephenson W., J.J. Hudson and B. Campbell, 1957. The Australian portunids (Crustacea: Portunidae) II. The genus Charybdis. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 8(4): 491-507.   Stephenson W., 1972. An annotated check list and key to the Indo-West-Pacific swimming crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae). Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 10: 1-64. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: October 2008 ©ciesm 2002