Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -  photo : Bella Galil

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace smooth. Rostrum with 9-12 teeth on upper margin, epigastric tooth widely separated from rostral teeth, single tooth on lower margin. Adrostral crest and groove prominent, extending to posterior margin of carapace; postrostral crest medially grooved. Abdomen dorsally carinate on 2nd-6th segments. Telson armed with three pairs of movable spines. Petasma with ventral costae broad. Thelycum with antero-lateral margins of anterior process horn-like, curved. color : body cream, minutely speckled with grey and brown; rostral, antennal, post-rostral, mid-abdominal and mid-telson carinae chocolate brown; brown band distally on antennal scale and along its exterior margin; short brown vertical stripe posteriorly near lateral margin of carapace; margins of abdominal pleura with short vertical brown stripe medially; pereopods pale yellow; uropods distally blue, setal fringe orange-red. common size : TL 16.2 cm males, 20.2 cm females. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Melicertus hathor differs from all other Mediterranean penaeids in having the anterior process of the thelycum bearing two long tapering "horns". BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Poorly known. habitat : sandy bottoms, coastline to 80 m.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Israel, 1999 [1997]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Indian Ocean, Red Sea to Myanmar. Mediterranean : recorded first in Israel (Galil, 1999 [1997]) from three distinct locations : Haifa Bay, Ashdod and Palmahim. Seven specimens were collected in Yumurtalik bight, southeastern coast of Turkey, (M. Kumlu, O.T. Eroldogan, M. Aktas and M. Gocer, pers. comm., 2002). 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). Several specimens were collected in the Gulf of Antalya, Turkey, in March 2005 (Gokoglu and Kaya, 2006). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Locally common. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal (Balss, 1927). IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Of some commercial importance in Iskenderun Bay.

KEY REFERENCES Burkenroad M.D., 1959. Decapoda Macrura I. Penaeidae. Mission Robert Ph. Dollfus en Egypte. XXV. Résultats Scientifiques, Mission Robert Ph. Dollfus en Egypte, 3: 67-92. Galil B.S., 1999. Melicertus hathor Burkenroad, 1959 - a Red Sea penaeid prawn new to the Mediterranean. Crustaceana, 72(9): 1226-1228. Gokoglu M. and Y. Kaya, 2006. First record of Melicertus hathor (Penaeidae) from the Gulf of Antalya (Mediterranean Sea). JMBA2, n° 5177.   Kumlu M., Eroldogan O.T., Aktas M. and Gocer M., 2002. A new shrimp record for the Turkish Seas: Melicertus hathor (Burkenroad, 1959) (Penaeidae: Crustacea). Israel Journal of Zoology, 48(3): 246-247. Perez-Farfante I. and B. Kensley, 1997. Penaeoid and sergestoid shrimps and prawns of the world. Keys and diagnoses for the families and genera. Mémoires du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 175: 1-233. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: August 2006 ©ciesm 2002