Page 8 - Collective Article_2017

3.3 First record of the Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in Sicily

G. Insacco & B. Zava
The blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 is a us mormyrus, Dentex dentex, Spondyliosoma cantharus,
coastal and estuarine species, native to the western Atlan- Citharus linguatula, Squilla mantis and Octopus vulgaris.
tic coasts; it ranges from Nova Scotia in Canada down to The crab specimen was identified according to Williams
northern Argentina, including Bermuda and the Antilles (1974), measured with a calliper to the lowest millimetre,
(Williams, 1974). It has been introduced in the Eastern weighed (accuracy 0.1 g), and photographed (Fig. 7a).
Atlantic (in the North Sea, and SW France), in the north- The sample was prepared in fluid and stored in the Zoo-
ern and eastern Mediterranean (recently in Spain), and logical collection of Museo di Storia Naturale di Comiso
also in Japan. C. sapidus was transported to the Mediter- (Province of Ragusa), with catalogue number MSNC
ranean in ballast tanks. The exact date of arrival in the 4539. Two more individuals of C. sapidus were found ten
Mediterranean Sea cannot be established because in the days later, in the same area but, unfortunately, the crabs
past it was often misidentified with the Lessepsian crab were cooked and eaten by the fisherman (Fig. 7b).
Portunus segnis (Forskål, 1775). Regarding Sicily, this The morphometric data of the C. sapidus specimen
is the case for the reports by Cavaliere & Berdar (1975) collected off the mouth of Salso River are: carapace
and Franceschini et al. (1993). This species has also been length, 81 mm; carapace width to base of lateral spines,
reported from Malta in 1984, but recently Crocetta et al. 148 mm; length of right lateral spines, 25 mm; total span,
(2015) ascribed the Maltese record to P. segnis. This note 480 mm. Dimensions of metagastric area: anterior width,
actually documents the first record of C. sapidus from Si-
cilian waters and in particular the Strait of Sicily. 33 mm, length, 13 mm; posterior width, 16 mm. Our fresh

On October 17 2016, a mature male specimen of specimen displayed the following colours: greyish, bluish
th
C. sapidus (weight 446 g) was caught by a local fisher- to brownish green dorsally. Diverse coloured tints present
man using a nylon trammel net off the harbour of Licata dorsally on the carapace ornamentation (spines or tuber-
(Agrigento, Sicily, Italy). The net was placed in front cles) and legs.
of the mouth of River Salso, also known as Imera Me- The blue crab has been included among the 100 worst
ridionale, with approximate coordinates 37.101367° N, IAS in the Mediterranean Sea (Streftaris & Zenetos,
13.952483° E, on a sandy-muddy bottom, at about 1-10 2006); however, with the exception of the eastern sectors
m depth. This river is a torrential stream characterised by of the basin, the actual spatial-temporal characteristics of
brief and violent floods during the rainy season from No- blue crab populations in non-native environments have
vember to February and long periods of drought during been poorly investigated, while their functional impor-
spring and summer. The specimen was collected together tance and ecological impact on autochthonous communi-
with the following species: Mullus barbatus, Lithognath- ties are to date virtually unexplored.

Fig. 7: Α. Callinectes sapidus. Preserved specimen, mature male, from off Licata (Agrigento, Sicily, Italy), MSNC 4539 (photo
G. Insacco); Β. a freshly caught mature male (Photo: A. Bonfissuto).

3.4 New Mediterranean records of Pachygrapsus maurus

F. Tiralongo & B. M. Lombardo

Three species of the genus Pachygrapsus Randall, and P. transversus (Gibbes, 1850). P. marmoratus is a
1840 have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea: P. northeastern Atlanto-Mediterranean species, recorded
marmoratus (Fabricius, 1787), P. maurus (Lucas, 1846) also in the Sea of Marmara and in the Black Sea. P. trans-

186 Medit. Mar. Sci., 18/1, 2017, 179-201