Paracaprella pusilla Mayer 1890

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890: 41, pl. 1, figs. 28–30; pl. 3; figs. 45–47; pl. 5, figs. 48–49; pl. 6, fig. 10; 1903: 67, pl. 2, figs. 36–37; pl. 7, fig. 52; Steinberg & Dougherty, 1957: 283 –284, figs. 16, 19, 24, 30; McCain, 1968: 82 –86, figs. 41–42; Wakabara et al., 1991: 73; Camp, 1998: 132; Díaz et al, 2005: 6 –7, 22, fig. 13; Guerra-García et al., 2006: 175–178, figs. 17–19; Montelli & Lewis, 2008: 36 –38, fig. 5; Bhave & Deshmukh, 2009: 111 –112, figs. 1–2; Guerra-García et al., 2010: 304 –305, fig. 8; Ros & Guerra-García, 2012: 134–139; Ros et al., 2013: 675 –685, fig. 2; Paz-Ríos et al., 2014: 2550 – 2553: fig. 17

Caprella nigra Reid, 1951: 283 –284, 289, fig. 58.

Remarks. No specimens of Paracaprella pusilla have been collected during the present study. The presence of P. pusilla in the Suez Canal was reported by Schellenberg (1928), who cited the species in three stations: Kantara (46 km from Port Said), Kabret (between Little Bitter Lake and Great Bitter Lake) and Port Taufiq. Since then, the species has not been recorded nor in the Suez Canal nor along the Red Sea. The material reported by Schellenberg (1928) could not be located by us for examination, but according to the remarks provided by this author, it seems that there is no doubt in the species identification (see Schellenberg, 1928, p. 678: “agree so completely with all the characters described and figured by Mayer that they may undoubtedly referred to Paracaprella pusilla ”).

Although the species appears to be a strongly Caribbean species (Carlton & Eldredge, 2009), it has been recently introduced at the west and east coasts of Mediterranean Sea (see Ros & Guerra-Garcia, 2012 and Ros e t at., 2013, Ros et al., 2015). Ros et al. (2013) suggested two main alternatives to explain the presence of P. pusilla in the Mediterranean Sea: The species entered (a) via the Suez Canal (Port Said) on vessels from the Indo-Pacific, or (b) through the Strait of Gibraltar, on vessels arriving from the Atlantic coast of America or from the established population in southwest Spain. P. pusilla has been primarily associated with fouling communities in harbours and marinas (Ros & Guerra-Garcia, 2012), but, unfortunately, we could not confirm the presence of the species along the Egyptian coast, since we could not have access to marinas of Egypt during the present study due to access restrictions because of political reasons. And we did not find the species in natural environments. However, taking into account that the species has become the most abundant among the caprellids found along the entire coast of India, both in harbours and in natural intertidal rocky shores (Guerra-Garcia et al., 2010), it is not surprising that the species could be also abundant in the Red Sea. Future studies must be addressed to confirm the presence of P. pusilla in this area.

Figures of the species based on specimens from Brazil were provided by Mayer (1890). Guerra-Garcia et al. (2006) figured additional Caribbean material collected from the coast of Colombia.

Distribution. Type locality: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Mayer, 1890).

Other records: Western North Atlantic, Tropical West Africa and Soth Africa, Tanzania, Suez Canal, Hawaii, China, Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, India, Australia and Mediterranean (McCain & Steinberg 1970; Wakabara et al. 1991; Ortiz and Lalana 1998; Diaz et al, 2005; Winfield et al. 2006; Montelli & Lewis, 2008; Guerra-Garcia et al., 2010). Details of the global distribution and invasion history are provided by Ros & Guerra-Garcia, 2012 and Ros et al., 2013).