Stomatopod and decapod crustaceans in 12 coral reefs of the Gulf of Mexico

Background. In 1985, as part of a global project within the “Secretaría de Marina” and continued in the “Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México” and in “Estudio y Conservación de la Naturaleza, A. C.”, a collection series of stomatopods and decapods crustaceans that inhabit the coral reefs of the East coast of Mexico began. Objective. Provide an updated inventory and analysis of species richness on 12 reefs for the two orders of crustaceans. Method: Manual collection, dredges, free and autonomous diving. Review of national and international collections and bibliographic records. Results. The 12 coral reefs studied are geographically distributed in four groups: northern Veracruz (97 species), central Veracruz (194 species), Campeche (130 species), and Yucatán (196 species). Twelve species, six genera, and five families are recognized for the stomatopods, and 314 species, 155 genera, and 55 families for the decapods. The family with the highest richness was the Alpheidae, with 53 species (due to the plasticity of occupying various available habitats in the reefs and by establishing symbiosis with other taxa), followed by Palaemonidae shrimps (29 species) and the spider crabs of the Mithracidae family (18 species). The Portunidae family (swimming crabs) presented 16 species, followed by porcelain crabs (15 species) and xanthoidean crabs (13 species). Twenty families presented only one species. Some species are considered “species in transit” such as Latreutes fucorum, Latreutes parvulus, and Portunus sayi, which were found to be associated with Sargassum spp. Conclusions. There is no doubt that the inventory of species of the Mexican reefs of the East coast will increase considerably by making a greater sampling effort at different tide phases and times of the year and sampling in specific habitats for certain species.