Cancer barffi Curtiss 1938

Cancer barffi Curtiss, 1938 [tiáneé]

Scyllarus antarcticus Lund, 1793: 22.

Cancer barffi Curtiss, 1938: 164.

The detailed description of this crayfish strongly indicates that it is the common reef slipper or mitten lobster Parribacus antarcticus (Lund, 1793) (Scyllaridae). Holthuis (1985: 74) was the first to report Cancer barffi as a synonym of P. antarcticus, although he did not explain why, and this synonymy has been followed by later workers (e.g., Holthuis 1991; Poupin 1996; Chan 1998; Davie 2002). Three other species of Parribacus actually occur in French Polynesia: P. holthuisi Forest, 1964, P. scarlatinus Holthuis, 1960, and P. perlatus Holthuis, 1967, but Curtiss’s (1938: 163–164) observations that the “outer antennae have each four joints; the fourth, or final joint has eight spines at its tip, and some pale orange hairs ….. abdomen has bumps on the middle of the upper side of the second, third and fourth sections. The fourth section has its bump less noticeable, but those on the second and third sections stick out more ….. The body is variegated above, black and pale greenish; except for the fins at the end of the tail, which are pale orange; these fins are pale orange on their underside too, but the rest of the body is, on the under side, variegated with pale orange, pale greenish, and whitish”, indicate that C. barffi is probably P. antarcticus. The armature of the fourth antennal segment is important in separating the species, with P. antarcticus, P. scarlatinus and P. perlatus having six lateral teeth while P. holthuisi only has five such teeth (Chan 1998). However, Curtiss obviously counted all the teeth around the antennal segment so this character is not helpful here. His observation of the median “bumps” on the abdomen is important as he observes that it is relatively high on the second and third somites. These median carinae are high in P. antarcticus but low in the other species (Chan 1998). In addition, the other species are red to orange in life, with P. antarcticus being the only green and black species.