Crustacea: India
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Crustacea
Introduction
Crustacea embraces forms commonly called prawns, crabs, hermit crabs, shrimps, woodlice, fish-lice, barnacles, lobsters, etc. Majority of these are aquatic, breathing by gills or by the general. surface of the body. These creatures are in many ways important to man, not only since some of them are valued as food, but also their vast numbers, in many cases virtually myriads, form food in tum for other valued animals, and thus largely contribute to the maintenance of certain fisheries.
The crustaceans are known for their remarkable adaptations. Some occur in freshwater, while others resort to estuaries and some to brine pools. Records of forms found in estuaries adapting to purely freshwater are not uncommon. Some of the Indian forms living in the sea are littoral, others pelagic and some are abyssal descending down to great depths of the sea covering hundreds of fathoms; some adapt to live on land and a few survive in deep caves also. Besides, some members occur as parasites on a large variety of animals, including the crustaceans themselves.
Crustaceans live solitarily as in the case of rock lobsters and in gregarious form as in shrimps. Another remarkable feature of these organisms is their size, from the microscopic forms such as Daphnia, Cyclops, ctc., to crab and lobsters which grow fairly large sizes. Most of them are brilliantly coloured and some present instance of protective coloration. Mimicry and modification of form, etc. are also common among the crustaceans. Many of these carry sponges, alcyonarians, ascidians, etc., on the carapace. Hermit crabs are found to live together with other animals such as sea-anemone and gastropod mollouscs, the sea-anemone and hermit crabs acting as commensals. Some crabs and prawns live inside the mantle cavity of oysters and echinoderms, respectively.
Among the commercially important crustaceans of India, prawn undoubtedly occupies a dominant place by virtue of the magnitude and ~e value of the fishery they support. Practically all the species of prawns and ..crabs are edible and a very large number of these are consumed allover the world. Majority of the commercially important species live in the sea and in estuaries of our great rivers. Penaeid prawns are the commonest among them and four species viz., Peneus monodon, Peneus indicus, Metapeneus monoceros and M. brevicornis are found fairly common in large numbers in the Gangetic delta and other parts of the country along both the coasts. Apart from prawns, lobsters too play an ilnportant role in this direction. While tiny mysids fill the pot of the poorer sections of the people, the lobsters adorn the table of the rich.
The spiny lobsters or the crayfish, Panulirus polyphagus or P. ornalus occurs in several localities along both the coasts of India, though it is quite common along the west coast and prefers rocky or stQny bottom a little farther away from the low tide zone. The common species of the Bombay coast is Panulirus ornatus which hardly grows to a foot in length and is found in fairly large numbers on rocky beds generally in waters somewhat shallower than that in which the other species referred to lives. In addition to prawns and lobsters, many varieties of crabs (both freshwaters and marine) are also utilised as part of food.
Majority of swimming crab.s belonging to the family Portunidae contribute the largest portion in this direction. Scylla serrata is the most common food crab of India and is extensively fished all along the Indian coasts. In addition to this, there are a few other species viz., Neplunus pelagicus, Neptunus sanguinolentus and Varuna literata among the brackish water forms and Paratelphusa (Barytelphusa) jacqucmonlii, Paratelphusa (Paratelphusa) spinigera and Paratelphllsa (Oziolelphusa) hydrodromus among the freshwater forms known for their value as food. Zoo-plankton constitute crustaceans which act as food of fIShes and according to Venkataraman (1960», crustaceans form the larges group viz. 59.9% among the food of fishes.
In addition to the medicinal purpose for which some of the crustaceans are used, there are some among them, whose activities are detrimental to man in the transmission of diseases. In tropical countries, they play an important role in the life cycle of some parasites.,
Some crustaceans directly cause economic loss to man. The fouling of ship barnacles may, at fust sight seem to be trivial matter, but a heavy layer of fouling can increase by about 50% of the fuel needed to maintain a given speed. Such increased costs of transport will be directly responsible for the increased price of goods carried by them. There are as many as 20 species ,cirripedes suspected to be causing fouling of ships and other naval crafts in India. As a rule, the tropics are the worst areas for fouling of ships. The temperate region is no exception to this but the incidence is comparatively less. Damage caused by marine boring organisms is also of great economic importance and of all 'creatures responsible for such damages two are well known. One is the mollusc Teredo. the ship wonn and the other being the isopod crustaceans of the genera Limnoria and Sphaeroma. Piles supporting wharfs and piers seem to be specially the targets by these borers and the damage caused is very considerable.
Historical Resume
Carcinological research in India dates back to 1869, when James Wood-Manson commenced serious study of the group. Immediately after joining the Indian Museum, Calcutta, he carried out a survey of the Indian marine and freshwater crustaceans, which constituted the beginning of a long and brilliant series of papers and monographs dealing with the group. His copious notes on the crabs and Stomatopoda which he left behind proved to be of immense help to Iiis successors, namely, Alcock and Kemp in their work.
Wood-Mason was also the fust specialist to carry out the deep sea biological investigations in the Indian Ocean, where in 1872, he was deputed by the Trustees of the Indian Museum to proceed to Andaman Islands for study and collection of the marine fauna of the area. Apart from his own effort in the collection of marine and freshwater crustaceans, he spared no ene~gies in persuading others from different parts of the country in the enrichment of the Crustacea collections.
Prior to the establishment of the Indian Museum, some work on the Crustacea was done and collections of this group were accumulated in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which formed the nucleus around which the present National Zoological Collections of India have been built up.
Alcock made earnest efforts in the collection and study of the crustaceans from deeper parts of the Indian Ocean. His outstanding contributions viz. Catalogues of the Indian Crustacea and his series of Memoirs on the Crustacea collected by R.I.M.S.S. Investigator are 100 well known to all the carcinologists of the world.
As a result of the studies undertaken in the Indian Museum and subsequently in the Zoological Survey of India for the past seventy five years, the Crustacea Division possesses one of the richest collections of these animals.
As Alcock took greater interest in the study of crabs, the Zoological Survey of India possesses a very fine collection of these animals, probably, the best available in any museum of the world, so far as the Indian region is concerned. Likewise, Kemp who made a special study of the Stomatopoda was instrumental in bringing together an excellent collection of the group. Further, owing to Kemp's interest in the Crustacea as a whole, the Survey is in the possession of vast collections, authentically identified and classified into prawns and shrimps.
Similar to Branchiopoda, Subclass Ostracoda includes four orders as above. The members of this group are divided chiefly based on the nature of shell, the number of post oral appendage and the nature of caudal furea. Ostraod shells were described from the Upper Cambrian, i.e., about 400 million years ago and over 3,000 species have been described from the Palaeozo,c rocks. They are abundant, today in both freshwater and the sea.
Sars (1924, 1925), Muller (1912), Brady (1885) and Daday (1908) have contributed mostly to our knowledge of the group. Order Myodocopa are purely marine forms and comprises two families viz. Cypridinidae and Conchoeciidae. Together these families include about 300 valid species of which about eleven species are known from the Indian coast. Merrylal James (1972, 1973) and Pculsen (1965, 1969) have contributed mostly on Indian forms. Sars monograpb (1925) on the Crustacea of Norway is the basic reference on Ostracoda, which even to-day is the key work on the group.
The second order viz. Podocopa are exclusively fre"shwater ostracods, except for a few marine forms. The group comprises four families viz. Nesidaidae, Darwinulidae, Cytheridae and Cyprididae of which the former two families are not represented from the Indian region. Of the other two families, which comprise both freshwater and marine forms, Cytheridae is represented by very few species from India, while the family Cyprididac has 105 species, so far, recorded from India.
The earlier contribution on Indian forms are by Brady (18.57) Gurney (1907), Klie (1927) and Arora (1931). In recent years, Hartman (1964), Deb (1972-1976), Michael and Victor (1975), Victor (1973, 1975), Victor and Fernandes (1976) have contributed vastly to our knowledge of the freshwater ostracods of India.
The two other orders viz. Cladocopa and Platycopa are not represented from India.
Subclass Branchiura
Our knowledge of the group from the Indian region is confined to very few workers and is rather scanty. Southwell (1915) gave an account ofArgulusfoliaeeeus (Linn.) an European species occurring in India. It is not until 1951, when Ramakrishna contributed to our knowledge of the Indian species of arguulids found parasitic on fishes, that the group received adequate attention. He described five species of the genus Argulus of which three were described as new to science. He (1962) described yet another taxa from Kerala. Thomas (1961) published a detailed account on the observations on the habit and post-embryonic development of parasitic branchiuran Argulus puthenvaliensis Ramakrishna.
Outside the Indian region, Meehan (1940) in his contributions dealt with world species of the genus Argulus and Wilson (1926, 1944) dealt with argulids from Thailand an.d North America. Max Weber (1892) established Argulus indieus to accommodate some female specimens collected from the east coast of Java.
Subclass Cirripcdia
Orders Thoracica
Acrothoracica
Rhizocephala
Ascothoracica
Annandale who succeeded Alcock as the Superintendent in 1907 and who later became the fll'St Director of the Zoological Survey of India in the year 1916, had interest in the study of Cinipedia (1905-1906). His monogn;~.phic work (1909) was confined to Pedunculate Cirripedes, specially the family Upadidae. The material at his disposal was collected from India, including Andaman Islands and Ceylon.
For about two decades since Annandale's work nothing worth mentioning was published. It was only in 1938, when Nileson Cantell dealt with in great detail the cirripeas from the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean accumulated in the collections of the Indian Museum that our knowledge on the group was enriched.
Daniel (1952-1971) in a series of contributions enriched our knowledge on the cirripedes of India and the fouling crustaceans. Besides his monograph (1956) on the Cirripedes of Madras coast, he has many other contributions on the group including other crustaceans.
Hoek's (1907) account of Cirripedea Pedunculata from the Malay Archipelago collected by Siboga Expedition and of several important papers dealing with Pacific species by Pilsobry (1907) and Gruvel's (1905) monograph on cirripcds are the only important contributions to our knowledge outside the Indian region.
Subclass Malacostracans
Of all the subclass of Crustacea, Malacostracans specially the Order Decapods, has received adequate attention of carcinological workers and this is evidenced by copious publications on the group from the Indian region. This fact is also reflected by the excellent collections in our holdings.
Order Mysidacea
Mysidaceans, popularly known as Opossum-shrimps, have received. attention in the early part of the twentieth century by Tattersall (1906, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1922, 1931). His series of contributions dealt with mysids collected from various parts of the country. In recent years, Pillai (1957, 1961, 1963, 1964) contributed to our knowledge on the mysids of the Kerala and erstwhile Travancore State. During 1967, he contributed a monograph on the shallow water Mysidacea of the Indian waters. The total number of species known from the Indian water is about 75.
Contributions from outside Indian region are mainly by Tattersall (1952-1962) on the South African 'material and (1951) on British Mysidacea; Sars (1888) on mysids collected by the H.M.S. Challenger Expedition during the years 1873-1876.
Order Cumacea
Very little is known about the crustacean fauna of Indian region pertaining to this group. The first record being by CaIman, in 1904 from the Gulf of Mannar, and he described ten species. Subsequently, Kemp (1916) dealt with the Crustacea of Chilka Lake, Kurian in a series of papers (1951, 1954, 1961, 1967) contributed to our knowledge of the Cumacea from the lakes of Kerala and on the collections received from the Zoological Survey of India collected from the Indian coasts and stations around Andaman Islands. Altogether 23 species of Bodotriidae, 3 species of Diastylidae, 4 species of Nannastaeidae and the lonely species ofCampylaspididae, are known from the Indian region.
Outside the Indian region, Stebbing (1910-1913) Jones (1955, 1956) contributed on the material from African coasts, Claman (1905, 1907) on the Gulf of Thailand, Hale (1928-1943) from Australia. However, much more remains to be done about these small crustaceans from the deep water regions of India. A comparative study of the Indian Cumacea show that they have close afrmity with those of the Australia, Africa and the Gulf of Thailand.
Order Tanaidacea
Our knowledge of Tanaidacea is rather poor from the Indian region. Chilton (1904) contributed a paper dealing with a taxa of the group from the Chilka Lake. Barnard. (1935) gave an account of the Tanaidacea collected from erstwhile Travancore and Cochin States.
Order Isopoda
It was Stebbing (1907) who initiated the study on Indian Isopods by publishing an account of the genus Tachaea and described a new species of the genus from Calcutta.•He later (1921) gave a detailed account of Indian Isopod and dealt with two genera of the Tribe Flabellifera, and five genera of the Tribe Oniscoidea It was, however, not until Collinge entered the field and made. several contributions that the work received adequate attention. Collinge (1914) published an account of three species pertaining to three genera viz., Philoscia, Parapericyphis and Cuboris, collected from the Port Blair, Andamans and from the Annanmalai Hills in South India. He again (1912-22) contributed two paprs on the terrestrial Isopods obtained from the Abor Expedition.
His next contribution to our knowledge of terrestrial Isopods of India dates to 1914, when he worked out the collection received from Madras Province. Of the ten species dealt with, nine species were new to science. Ennurensis hispidus and Hemiporcellio carinatus stand significant among the collection. Collinge (1916) published another article on the same subject and described species, all of them being new to science pertaining to the genera Parapericyphis, Cubaris and Burmoniscus. Burmoniscus kempi was collected from Maosmai cave near Cherra Punji at an altitude of 4000 ft. This was the second species of the genus Burmoniscus found in a cave, the other being B. moulmeinus. He (1917) described another new species of the genus Synidotea from the Gulf of Mannar.
Subsequently, Chopra (1923) contributeq a monumental monograph of the Bopyrid Isopods of India Decapod Macrura. Till then, nothing waS known on the Bopyrid Isopod Parasites of India and also of the neighbouring countries. These, were however, common in Indian waters since almost all the species of Caridean prawns generally available in Calcutta markets were infested with them. The fauna of Bopyrids is rich in number of species and also in the number of some individuals. 33 species pertaining to 13 genera were described by him, collected mostly from the Andainan Islands, delta of Ganges, Madras and other areas. Later, he (1924) worked out the fauna of Suju cave and described four species of terrestrial Isopods belonging to three genera and two families viz., Oniscidae and Annadillidae.
The cave fauna between 300 to 500 ft. from the entrance of the cave had the richest fauna and this was true of Isopods too. Two mynnecophilous Isopods collected from Barkuda Islands, Chilka Lake were then described by Chopra (1924) brought by Annandale. Of the two, Cubaris granulatus was not known to be associated with ants earlier. Chopra (1930) further contributed another interesting paper on the Bopyrid Isopods on Indian Decapod Macrura. The collection included 12 species pertaining to 7 genera collected mostly from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, delta of Ganges, Gulf of Mannar and Bombay.
Chilton (1926) described several species of Isopods based on the collection obtained from a tour in the Far East. Barnard (1935, 1936) reported on some Isopods, Tanaidacea and Amphipoda based on the collection obtained by the R.I.M.S. 'Investigator' The collection contained littoral, shallow-water and deep water species from the Mergui Archipelago in the east to the Arabian Sea and mouth of Persian Gulf in the West. The collections contain 34 species of which seven were described as new to science, one ofwhich is littoral wood lice. Verhoeff (1936) also dealt with several species of terrestrial Isopods collected from Madras and other parts of Southern India. He further described a new species of the genus Protracheoniscus from Ladakh.
Chopra (1947) gave an account of the first occurrence in India of the ancient suborder Phreatoicoides, based on material received from Dr. Sharif of the Haffkin Institute in 1946 collected in a pucca well at Lohagara railway station, 18 mils from Allahabad. Later, several specimens pertaining to this group were collected from the wells of Banaras (U.P.). This suborder is known to have a very interesting distribution, being somewhat plentiful in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand and having been found outside this region only in Cape Province of South Africa. its occurrence in South Asia, was therefore considered to be of particular significance. Chopra and Tiwari (1950) described the Nichollsia kashiense from the material collected from the well in the outer lawns of the Kaiser castle, Banaras Cantt.
Subsequently Tiwari (1952) dealt with in detail the morphology of the same species. He (1953) described a new species of he rate Cymothoid genus Agarna, prasitic on the Clupeid fish Nematolosa nasus in the Bay of Bengal. Later, Tiwari (1955) contributed another article erecting a new family Nicholisidae to accommodate the genus Nichollsia. He (1955) described another species Nichollsia from an abandoned well at Moqghyr (Bihar).
In recent years Ramakrishna contributed a series of papers on the terrestrial Isopods collected from different parts of the country. His conb'ibution (1970) dealt with Isopod material from the Kameng Division of Arunachal Pradesh. Subsequently Ramakrishna (1969) described a new species of Philoscia based on material collected from tbe Lodna Colliery, 13 kms. from Dhanbad, Bihar, Ramakrishna (1975) described yet another species new to science of the genus Porcellio collected from different parts of Rajasthan. He (1975) reviewed the work done on Indian Isopods.
Among the contributors on the marine wood-borers Pillai (1955, 1958 and 1971), John (1968), George (1963), Palekar and Bat (1957), Ganapati and Lakshman Rao (1960), Lakshman Rao and Ganapati (1969), Lakshman Rao (1969), Cheriyar (1968) stand significant So far, six species of the genus Sphaeroma and nine species of Limnoria are recorded from the Indian waters. The damage caused by these borers exceeds considerably than that of all other crustaceans.
Among the important monographic contributions from outside Indian region, are by Richardson (1905) dealing with Isopods of North America, Vandei (1960, 1962) dealing with terrestrial Isopods of France. Van Name (1936) on the American land and freshwater Isopod Crustacea, George, A. Schultz (1975) on the marine Isopod Crustaceans Sars (1899) on Isopoda of Norway and BuddIe Lund's (1879-1912) series of contribution on the world fauna of Isopods.
Order Amphipoda
Study of Indian Amphipoda has received considerable interest since Giles (1885-1890) gave an account of them collected from the Bay of Bengal by R.M.I.S.S. Investigator. Since then Chilton (1920, 1921, 1923 and 1925) and Tattersall (1912, 1914, 1922 and 1925) contributed a series of papers on the group. While Chilton dealt with Amphipods of the river Ganges, Chilka lake and Bengal" Tattersall accounted for those collected from Tale Sap and freshwater Amphipods from Andaman Island. Barnard (1935) reported on the Amphipods collections made from different parts of India pertaining to the families Ampeliscidae, Oedicerotidae, ~alliopidae, Gammaridae, Talitridae, Aoridae, Photidae, Amphithoidae, Corophiidae and Podiceridae
In recent years, Sivaprakasm (1966-1970) in a series of contributions enriched our knowledge on the Amphipods of east coast of India and listed 61 species. Nayar (1959, 1966) dealt with the amphipods of the Madras coast and Gulf of Mannar. In his monographs on the Gammaridean Amphipoda of the Gulf of Mailnar (1967) he dealt with 78 species, of 26 families. Pillai (1967) contributed to our knowledge in two parts on the Amphipod collections of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, mostly made from the Arabian Sea. Surya Rao (1972) enumerated a detailed account of the intertidal Gammarid amphipods from the Indian coasts and listed 132 species pertaining to 54 genera.
Rabindranath (1969) contributed to our know ledge on the amphipods of Kerala. Tembe and Deshpanda (1964) dealt with amphipoda of Bombay shores.
Order Euphausiacea
The importance of Eupbausids in the dietary of oceanic fish and baleen whales of Antarctic waters is too well known. But to-date we have very little precise information on their significance to the fisheries of the tropics, specially from the Indian waters. The earliest account on Indian Buphausiids is known through the work of Wood-Mason and Alcock (1891), Alcock and Anderson (1894), Anderson (1893) on the benthic forms of the Bay of Bengal and Laccadive sea Tattersall (1911, 1939) gave an account of them from the Indian Ocean.
After a long gap of about two decades, Pillai (1957) described some taxa from Travancore. Panomerava (19641 worked on the Euphausids of Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Sebastian (1966) dealt with taxonomic account of 23 species of EQphausids from the Laccadive, Maldive and adjoining regions of the Indian Ocean. Gopalakrishnan and Barinton (1969) reported 31 species from the samples of the International Indian Ocean Expedition and Mathew (1971) described two species from southwest coast of India.
Order Stomatopoda
The history of collection and studies on Stomatopoda in the Zoological Survey of India dates from the last quarter of the 19th century when late Wood-Mason devoted himself to the task of acquisition of a representative series of Indo-Pacific species to the nucleus collection then existing in the collection of the Indian Museum.
Since 1895, when Wood-Mason's descriptions were published, considerable additions were made owing to the painstaking efforts of Alcock on the "R.M.I.S.S., Investigator" based on this and more representative collections acquired from other world museums, Kemp (1913) published a monograph on Indo-Pacific Stomatopods comprising 139 species and varieties known' till then. This monumental work has remained the principal work of reference till date on the Indo-Pacific forms.
Kemp and Chopra (1921) published a note which included descriptions of two more new species and entended distribution and structural peculiarities of twenty others. Chopra (1934) gave an account of collection made by the Bengal Pilot Service at Sandheads, off the mouth of river Booghly together with notes on other forms. This was followed, by Another interesting publication (1939) on the Stomatopod collection of the John Murry Expedition 1933-34 made by Sewell.
Tiwari and Biswas (1952) published a paper based on material accumulated since Chopra's work. After a gap of two decades Ghosh (1973, 1975 and 1976) and Tiwari and Ghosh (1975) have contributed a series of papers highlighting the present knowledge of Stomatopoda in the Indian waters.
Outside the department, noteworthy contributions were made by Alikunhi and Aiyar (1942, 1943), Alikuilhi (1944, 1950 and 1951) on growth stages of stomatopods. Contribution son adult form were made by Kurian (1954), Chapgar &Sane (1967) and Shanubogue (1969, 1.970). Outside India, Holthuis and Manning have contributed a lot on the group.
Suborder Decapoda
Decapoda is the most highly developed and largest order of Crustacea with about 8500 species. As the name indicates, all members of this group have five pairs of walking legs. They have invaded almost all depths and levels of the sea and some are semiterrestrial to terrestrial. They range in size from tiny pelagic shrimp to large benthic spider crabs. They play an important role in the aquatic ecosystem by recycling dead organic matter. Next to fish, prawns and crabs form major sources of quality protein to man. There 'are about 350 species of prawns and shrimps, and 20 species of crabs consumed allover the world.
The history of the study of decapods can be traced back to the early recorded history; crab is one of the two invertebrates in Zodaic as the sign of the constellation cancer which is the Latin word for crab. Fabricius was the [lIst scientist to lay the foundation for the classification of Decapod. He divided the Linnean genus Cancer into a number of genera. Later, this group broadly divided into long-tailed Macrura and short-tailed Brachyura by Latreille in 1906, aRd the intermediate group of
Anomura was created by Milne-Edwards in 1834. However, the first major classificatio" was proposed by Boas in 1888. He separated Decapoda into two groups, the Natantia or swimming decapods and the Reptantia or crawling decapods. Boradaile (1907) published a scheme of classification which was widely accepted. The term'tribe was fust introduced in the classification of this group by him. The classification proposed by Beurlen and Glaessner (1930) included more infonnation on fossil Decapoda and altered the traditional classification. Glaessner (1969) gave another classification including only such taxonomic characters which are necessary for coherent presentation of our present knowledge on Decapod phylogeny. This and Boradaile's classification are being followed by many present-day workers.
Suborder Macrura
Research on Macrura of Indian waters was initiated by de Man (1887-1908), who published a series of papers on the collection from the brackish water ponds of Lower Bengal. Alcock (1901, 1906) contributed a comprehensive catalogue on the penaeid prawns of India with keys for identification of species. However the pioneering contribution of this group was made by Kemp (1910) who published in 24 parts in the Records of the Indian Museum.
He dealt with systematic account of various marine and brackish water forms belonging to several families collected from varied habitats. Chopra (1936-1956), in addition.to his systematic studies on this group, published a series of articles on prawn and crab fisheries of India. Later Tiwari (1947-1974) made exhaustive• studies on different groups of Macrura. His series of contributions on Caridea published in 15 parts was based on the material collected from different parts of India, including Burma, Philippines and China. Pillai (1961-1974) contributed several papers on the fresh water carideans of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Jalihal, Shakunthala Shenoy and Sankolli (1975-1984) have made significant contribution on the systematics, ecology and development of inland fresh water prawns of Karnataka. They described eight new species belonging to the Genus Caridiana and Macrobranchium. Khan (1980) described a new species of palaemon, Kara fulienses from Bangladesh. Rabindranath (1980) contributed to the study of eulittoral palaemonid shrimps off Visakhapatnam coast He also studied the shrimps of the genus Acetes from the Krishna estuary. Jayachandran and Joseph (1986) described a new species of Macrobrachium from the southwest coast of India. Anantha Raman (1980) reported the occurrence and distribution of freshwater prawns in an around Bangalore.
Culture of prawns and crabs in India have gained much importance in recent years, in the wake of increasing demand, both for domestic consumption as well as for export to foreign countries. Prawns belonging to the family Penaeidae, Sergestidae Palaemonidae and crabs of the family Portunidae constitute major fisheries in India. Chopra (1939-1943), and Panikhar (1937-1950) in a series of papers enriched over knowledge on the prawn fisheries of India. George and Vedavyasa Rao (1967) published an annotated bibliography on the biology and fishery of commercially important prawn of India... The publication on prawns and prawn fisheries of India by Kurian and Sebastian (1976) is one of the noteworthy publication in this field.
Rajyalakshmi (1985) in her review paper on Estuarine Macrura (penaiae) of India reviewed the current State of our knowledge and literature in this filed. Recently, Muthu et al., contributed a paper on the research and technological progress made in the field of culture of prawns in the Proceedings ofthe Symposium on Coastal Aquaculture.
Suborder Anomura
Sankolli (1963-1966) studied the porcellanid crabs from the intertidal region bf Ratnagiri along the west coast of India. Later, Sankolli (1967), Shakuntala Shenoy, (1967) and S. Shenoy and Sankolli (1967) enriched our knowledge on the larval development of Anomuran crabs. Sarojini and Nagabhushanam gave a detailed systematic account of the porcellanids of Waltair Coast.
Reddy and Ramakrishna (1972) listed twenty species of pagurid crabs belonging to families Paguridae and Coenobitidae. Ajmal Khan and Natarajan (1981) gave a detailed systematic account of the hennit crabes of Vellar estuary with keys for identification of families, genera and species. 1bey also swdied the larval development of Pagurid crabs under laboratory conditions.
Recently, Baba Keiji described two new species of anomuren crustaceans, Gastroptychus chacei (family Chirostylidae) and Munida sentai (family Galatheidae) from Andaman Sea.
Suborder Brachyura
The study of the Brachyuran fauna of the Indian seas started with the study <;>f the deep sea fonns by Milne Edwards, de Man (1887) and Handersen (1888). However, the first monumental work on the Indian Brachyura is by Alcock (1895-1911) which is still considered to be invaluable for the study of crabs of the Indo-Pacific region. The work incorporates six tribes, with more than 600 species with detailed descriptions. Lamie (1906) recorded 208 species of brachyuran crabs from the Gulf of Mannar. Kemp (1915-1923) enhanced our knowledge of the brachyuran fauna of the Indian waters. His (1917-1919) revision of the crabs belonging to families Hymenosomatidae and Scopimenrinae are valuable additions to our knowledge on this group .. Gravely (1927) studied the crabs from the Gulf of Manner.
Ramakrishna (1951) contributed to our knowledge on the Potamonid crabs available in the collections of the Zoological Survey of India. Pillai (1951) reported on the Brachyura from the Travancore coast. Chapgar (1957) in his book on Marine crabs of Bombay State described 81 species of crabs, giving full systematic descriptions and illustrations. Sankaran Kutty (1961) reported 43 species and two varieties of crabs belonging to 22 genera with the genus Johnesius as new to science, from Andaman and Laccadive Archipelago. He (1965) also reported 88 species belonging to 23 families of Brachyura from the Gulf of Mannar with Aelasius indieus as new to science.
Wasima (1982) reported a new species lxa holthusia from North Arabian sea. Holthuis (1984) described two new species of Dorippe from the Andaman Islands. Deb, (1985-1989) in a series of papers enriched our knowledge on the Brachyunan fauna of Indian waters. She described a new genus of portunid crab and 10 new species from Indian waters. In her occasional paper on Act~nae she dealt with forty four species from Andaman coast. She also revised the genus Demania. Deb and Badra recorded Portunus pubeseens (Dana) from India. Deb, et ale (1988) have contributed to the knowledge of Brachyuran fauna of Mangrooves of Sunderbans and Andaman Islands. Dutta, (1989) dealt with freshwater crabs of North-Eastern region of India.
Estimation or Taxa
N arne• of sub-classes No. of families No. of genera orders Prior to the establishment of the Zoological Survey of India, couple of field explorations were undertaken by scientists attached to the Indian Museum for study and collection of Crustacea material. Wood Mason was the first to carry out deep-sea biological investigations in the Indian Ocean, when in 1872, he was deputed by the Indian Museum authorities to proceed to Andaman Islands for collection of marine fauna including crustaceans. Anderson's efforts on an expedition to Mergui Archipelago was responsible for excellent collection of Crustacea, which were later worked out by the Dutch Carcinologist Dr. J. G. de Man and results published in the Journal ofLinnean Society.
In subsequent years, Alcock, Annandale and Sewell did a great,deal of field studies and.enriched museum collections, specially Alcock from the deeper parts of the Indian seas. Of the various military and political expeditions the one which went to the north western parts of India, the Pamir Boundary Commission (1896) brought a very interesting collection from the Russian frontier of the Pamirs. Among the expeditions that went to the eastern parts of the Himalayas, the 'Dafla' (1874, 1875) and the 'Abor' expedition (1911, 1912» on which Dr. Kemp accompanied the collections, which were extensive and at the same time of exceptional interest, the results of which were published in a special volume of the Records ofthe Indian Museum.
One of the most important field explorations undertaken during the second decade of the twentieth century with special reference to crustaceans was by Kemp and Chopra to the Siju Cave in the Garo Hills, Mcghalaya. Couple of field surveys undertaken subsequently during the next two decades by Dr. Chopra and other scientist attached to the Survey enriched the crustacea collections from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chilka Lake, Salt Range, Punjab, Kashmir and Simla hills.
Though almost every state in the Indian Union has been covered partially for study and collection of some groups of crustaceans, practically much remains to be explored, specially of such groups of lower crustaceans which have not received adequate attention. Apart from this, there ar certain areas which have, hitherto, not been explored at' all viz. Tripura, North Bengal, Sikkim, parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, Telengana area in Andhra Pradesh, Bastar and adjacent areas in Madhya Pradesh, parts of Maharashtra, interior districts of Tamil Nadu and the eastern portion of Karnataka.
In ZSI
G. Ramakrishna, Maya Deb, H. C. Ghosh, T. Roy, K. N. Reddy, l<rishna Murthy, ZSI, 27, J. N. Road, Calcutta -700 016.
Elsewhere
K. Ajmalkhan, C. A. S. In Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangi pettai 608 502, Tamil Nadu. Jalihal, Marine Biological Research Station Ratnagiri Maharashtra. Jaya Chandran, Department of Aquatic Biology Fisheries, Kerala Agricultural University, Cochin.
C. V. Kurian, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Cochin 682 016. Sankolli, Marine Biological Research Station, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Animal Resources ofIndia
ABROAD
A. H. Baner, Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology P.O. Box'! 1346, Konehohe, Hawaii 93744. . Baba Keiji, Biological Laboratory Faculty of Education, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860, Japan.
A.1. Bruce, Northern Territory Museum Arts& Sciences, GPO Box -4646, Darwin NT 0801. Australia. Daniele Guinot, Nuseum National 0'1 Histoire Naturelle, 61, Ruede Buffon 75231 Paris CEDEX 05. Garth John, S. Allan Hancock Foundation, South California University Los Angeles, California 90089, U.S.A.
Holthuis, Raijksmuseum Van Naturvuligue Historie, Raamsteeg, 2, Leideo, Nederland.
S. Lucas, Zoology Department James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland. 4811. Australia. G. Peter K. L. Department of Zoology, National University, Singapore, Kent Ridge Campus, Singapore -0511.
Sakai, Crustacea Laboratory, Shikoku Women'{s University, 711 11 Tokushimaohijncho, Furukawa, Japan.
Takoda Masatsune, Department of Zoology, National Science Museum, TokYto.
M. Tirmizi Nasima, Marine Invertebrate Reference collection Centre, Karachi University, Karachi.
Selected References
Alcock,. A. 1895-1900. Materials for a carcinological fauna of India. Nos 1 to 6 (Brachyura).
J. asiat. Soc. Beng.,64,65,68 &69.
Alcock, A. 1906. Catalogue of the Indian Decapod crustacea in the collections of the Indian Museum. Part III. Macrura. Fasc. I. The prawns of the Penaeus group. Indian Museum. Calcutta.
Alcock, A. 1910. CataIouge of the Indian Decapod crustacea in the collections of the Indian Museum.•The Indian freshwater crabs -Potamonidae. Fuse II. 'Indian Mus((um, Calcu~ Barnard, J. L. 1969. The families and genera of marine gammaridan Amphipoda. Bull. U.S. natl. Mus. 271 : 1-535.
Barradile, L. A. 1970. On the classification of the Decapoda. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.• 19(7) : 457• 486.
Chhapgar, B. F. 1957. Marine Crabs of Bombay State. Contribution No.1. Taraporevala Mar. BioI. Station, 189 pp.
Chopra, B. 1931-1937. Notes on Crustacea. Decapoda in the Indian Museum. Rec.lndian Mus., vols. 32, 33, 35, 37 &39.
Crane, J'. 1975. Fiddler Crabs of the world. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Glassner, M. F. 1969. Decapod. In : Treatise on Invertebrate. Palaeontology (ed. R. C. Moore). Part R. Arthropoda 4, vol. 11, pp. R400-RS33.
Hobbs, H. H. Jr. 1974. Synopsis of the families and genera of cray fishes (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contrb. Zool., 164 : 1-32.
Kensley, B. 1980. An thuridean isopod crustaceans from the International Indian ocean Expedition, 1960-65, in the Smithsonian collections. Smithsonian Contr. zool. 304 : 1-37. Linder, F. 1941. Morphology and taxonomy of the Branchiopod Anostraca. Zool. Bidr. Upsala, 20 : 101-302. Manning, R. B. 1980. The super families, families and genera of recent stomatopod crustacea with diagnosis of six new families. Proc. Bioi. Soc. Washington, 93 : 362-372. Mauch Line, J. &Murano, M. 1977. World list of the Mysidacea, Crustacea. J. Tokyo Univ. Fish. 64 : 39-88. McLaughlin, P. A. 1980. Comparative morphology of recent Crustacea. Freeman, San Francisco, California. Moore, R. C. &McCormick, L. 1969. General features of Crustacea. In : Treatise on Invertebrate Palaeontology (ed. R. C. Moore). Part R. Arthropoda. 4. vol.t, pp. R57-RI20. Neale, J. 1969. Taxonomy, Morphology and Ecology of Recent Ostracoda. Oliver &Boyd, Edin burgh &London. Schram, F. R. 1981. On the classification of the Eumalacostraca. J. Crustacean Biol.-t : 1-10. Warner, G. F. 1977. The biology of Crabs. Elock Science, London.
