Abstract
Four specimens of Neolithodes brodiei Dawson and Yaldwyn (1970) have been obtained for the first time from bottom trawls deployed in Antarctic waters off the Balleny Islands (about 67°S) in March 2004. The Lithodidae constitute the only anomuran crab family so far known to be able to thrive under high-Antarctic conditions, and lithodids in the Ross Sea have previously only been recorded off Scott Island. The new record of N. brodiei, commonly found in waters off New Zealand, clearly extends its geographic range into the Southern Ocean. The significance of this finding with respect to the biodiversity and distribution of the Lithodidae from the Southern Ocean is briefly discussed.
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Acknowledgements
The material examined during the current study was obtained during a biodiversity survey of the northwestern Ross Sea and Balleny Islands undertaken by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and financed by the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries. Thanks are due to the captain, officers, crew and scientific personnel of RV “Tangaroa” and to Alan Blacklock (NIWA) for photographing the specimens. We are especially grateful to Stefano Schiaparelli for sharing his knowledge on board. The authors would like to thank Ashley Rowden (NIWA) and Wolf Arntz (AWI) for constructive commenting on an earlier draft. The first author’s involvement was made possible by NIWA’s visiting scientist programme (Non-Specific Outcome Funding project number NNTM043). We would like to thank Peter Davie and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the manuscript.
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Thatje, S., Lörz, AN. First record of lithodid crabs from Antarctic waters off the Balleny Islands. Polar Biol 28, 334–337 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0686-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0686-1