Lobster fauna of india

Abstract

Decapods are a highly diverse group of crustaceans under Phylum Arthropoda, which are distributed throughout a range of depths and latitudes of the world’s aquatic ecosystems and terrestrial habitats. Conventional classic taxonomy was mainly dependent upon the morphological features of an organism for species delineation. The interrelationships of the controversial major clades of reptant decapods are resolved through an integrative taxonomic approach combining molecular techniques such as gene sequencing and DNA barcoding with classical morphological features. Molecular analytical tools are increasingly being applied in the current century to delineate the phylogenetic interrelationships of groups within the raptantian decapods. Marine lobsters are members of the suborder Macrura Reptantia with 4 infraorders, 6 families, 54 genera and 260 extant species (including 4 subspecies) (Chan, Chap. 2). The closely related families of Palinuridae and Scyllaridae share several morphological characters, more specifically their phyllosoma larvae. The lobster fauna of India is so diverse that 38 species belonging to three infraorders (Astacidea, Achelata and Polychelida) and five families are distributed in the seas surrounding the Indian subcontinent. The southern coast (both the west and east coasts) of India is species rich as the diverse habitats and the physical environment favour the settlement of a wide variety of species. Though the palinurid lobsters and the scyllarid Thenus unimaculatus are distributed almost throughout the Indian coast, some distinctive species has preference to certain regions. A new deepwater species of scyllarid Petrarctus jeppiari was recently added to the scyllarid fauna of India.