Distribution of freshwater caridean shrimps and prawns (Atyidae and Palaemonidae) from Southern Kyushu and adjacent islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Seventeen species of freshwater caridean shrimps and prawns (Atyidae and Palaemonidae) are recorded from mainland Kagoshima, Uji Gunto, Ohsumi Shoto and Tokara Retto, Southern Japan. Distribution of three Macrobrachium prawns: M. equidens, M. latimanus and M. gracilirostre, are newly recorded in the surveyed areas by the present study. Though the fauna of the surveyed areas has many tropical and subtropical species, it is characterized as a complex mixture of southern and northern species. In the Sendai, Manose and Kimotsuki Rivers, the longitudinal distribution of shrimps was also surveyed. The distribution is affected by a dam or a natural vertical wall as mentioned in previous papers. The amphidromous species, Caridina leucosticta, C. serratirostris, C. typus, M.formosense, and M. japonicum, inhabited slow flowing reaches near the river mouth, while the landlocked Neocaridina denticulata and Palaemon (Palaemon) paucidens were distributed upstream from the dam or the steep reaches.