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New record of Calcinus morgani (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae) from the Andaman Islands, and a key to Calcinus species in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2025

Navyashree Aravind Open the ORCID record for Navyashree Aravind [Opens in a new window]  and
Ganesh Thiruchitrambalam
Navyashree Aravind*
Affiliation:
Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
Ganesh Thiruchitrambalam
Affiliation:
Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
*
Corresponding author: Navyashree Aravind; Email: navyashreearavind01@gmail.com
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Abstract

The diogenid hermit crab, Calcinus morgani Rahayu & Forest, 1999, is reported from the Andaman Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean. It was previously recorded as Calcinus gaimardii (H. Milne Edwards, 1848) from the Nicobar Islands, south of the Andaman Islands, in 1865 about 160 years ago, but there were no additional records of the species in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The diagnosis of C. morgani is provided on the basis of the present specimens for helping the identification. A key to species of the genus Calcinus known from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also provided.

Keywords

Andamandistributiondiversityhabitathermit crabtaxonomy
Type
Marine Record
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 105 , 2025 , e10
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Introduction

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located in the eastern Indian Ocean and known as the ‘Paradise of Biodiversity’ (Ramakrishna et al., Reference Ramakrishna, Raghunathan, Sivaperuman, Ramakrishna, Raghunathan and Sivaperuman2010). The major coastal and marine habitats of the island groups include coral reefs, mangrove creeks, mudflats, seaweed and seagrass beds, estuaries, and lagoons, and these various habitats are home to numerous organisms, including hermit crabs (Mukhopadhyay and Karisiddaiah, Reference Mukhopadhyay, Karisiddaiah and Kale2014). Hermit crabs belong to the superfamily Paguroidea of the infraorder Anomura. Among 114 species of the hermit crabs reported from India, 55 species are known from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including 6 from the family Coenobitidae, 37 from the family Diogenidae, 8 from the family Paguridae, 2 species from the family Parapaguridae, and 2 species from the family Pylochelidae (Patel et al., Reference Patel, Padate, Osawa, Tiwari, Vachhrajani and Trivedi2022).

There are very few studies on hermit crabs from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; mainly the distribution and diversity of these organisms has been studied here, and the pioneering works include Heller (Reference Heller1865) and Alcock (Reference Alcock1905). Other works on additional hermit crab species recorded from there include those by Reddy and Ramakrishna (Reference Reddy and Ramakrishna1972), Thomas (Reference Thomas1977, Reference Thomas1989), Tikader et al. (Reference Tikader, Daniel, Rao and Tikader1986), Venkataraman et al. (Reference Venkataraman, Jeyabaskaran, Raghuram and Alfred2004), Rao (Reference Rao2010), and Kariathil et al. (Reference Kariathil, Raff, Khan, Kannan, Ramakrishna, Raghunathan and Sivaperuman2010).

The family Diogenidae includes about 70% of the hermit crab species that have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which comprises one species each from the genera Aniculus (A. ursus (Olivier, 1812)) and Ciliopagurus (C. strigatus (Herbst, 1804)); four species from Calcinus (C. gaimardii (H. Milne Edwards, 1848), C. laevimanus (Randall, 1840), C. latens (Randall, 1840), and C. morgani Rahayu & Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999); nine species each from Clibanarius (C. arethusa De Man, 1888, C. corallinus (H. Milne Edwards, 1848), C. demani Buitendijk, 1937, C. humilis (Dana, 1851), C. longitarsus (De Haan, 1849), C. merguiensis De Man, 1888, C. olivaceus Henderson, Reference Henderson1915, C. signatus Heller, 1861, and C. striolatus Dana, 1852) and Dardanus (D. deformis (H. Milne Edwards, 1836), D. guttatus (Olivier, 1812), D. lagopodes (Forskål, 1775), D. megistos (Herbst, 1804), D. pedunculatus (Herbst, 1804), D. setifer (H. Milne Edwards, 1836), D. tinctor (Forskål, 1775), D. vulnerans (Thallwitz, 1891), and D. woodmasoni (Alcock, Reference Alcock1905)); five species from Diogenes (D. alias McLaughlin & Holthuis, 2001, D. avarus Heller, Reference Heller1865, D. custos (Fabricius, 1798), D. dubius (Herbst, 1804), and D. merguiensis De Man, 1888); and eight species from Paguristes (P. balanophilus Alcock, Reference Alcock1905, P. calvus Alcock, Reference Alcock1905, P. ciliatus Heller, 1862, P. incomitatus Alcock, Reference Alcock1905, P. longirostris Dana, 1851, P. mundus Alcock, Reference Alcock1905, P. puniceus Henderson, 1896, and P. pusillus Henderson, 1896) (Patel et al., Reference Patel, Padate, Osawa, Tiwari, Vachhrajani and Trivedi2022). The present study reports a diogenid hermit crab, C. morgani Rahayu & Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999, after a span of about 160 years recorded by Heller (Reference Heller1865) as C. gaimardii H. Milne Edwards, 1848 from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and also provides a key to the species of the genus Calcinus reported from these islands.

Materials and methods

The specimens examined were collected from four sites along the southeastern coast of South Andaman, Andaman Islands, viz., Science Centre (11°39′19.404″N, 92°45′25.848″E), Corbyn's Cove (11°38′43.044″ N, 92°44′56.184″E), Burmanallah (11°33′16.956″N, 92°43′51.24″E), and Kodiyaghat (11°31′ 48.349″N, 92°43′ 24.362″E) (Figure 1). They were handpicked from the intertidal region of the four sites during the lowest tide period from January to March, 2023. The specimens then were brought to the laboratory and washed with water and kept in a small amount of sea water, which resulted in a low oxygen level and caused the crabs to come out of the shells; when those crabs did not come out of the shells, they were taken out by breaking the shell with a vise. After the live coloration of a specimen was recorded, all the specimens were preserved in 7% formalin and are deposited in the Museum of the Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair Campus (PU/MB/551, dt. 27.03.2023). Shield length (SL), the size of specimens, was measured from the tip of rostrum to the posterior median margin of the shield.

Figure 1. Study area: sampling sites of the present specimens of Calcinus morgani Rahayu and Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999.

Results

Calcinus morgani Rahayu & Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999 (Figure 2A–G)
Calcinus gaimardii Alcock, Reference Alcock1905: 56, pl. 5, fig. 5; Miyake, Reference Miyake1956: 326, figs 16, 17; Ball & Haig, Reference Ball and Haig1972: 101; Lewinsohn, Reference Lewinsohn1982: 52; Haig & Ball, Reference Haig and Ball1988: 159; Poupin, Reference Poupin1997: 688, figs 2B, 5D [not Calcinus gaimardii (H. Milne Edwards, 1848)].
Calcinus areolatus Rahayu & Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999: 468, fig. 4
Calcinus morgani Rahayu & Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999: 465, figs 1B, 2C–D, G–H, J; McLaughlin & Dworschak, Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001: 154 (in part); Asakura, Reference Asakura2002: 43, figs. 1D, 9–11, 21E–I; McLaughlin et al., Reference McLaughlin, Rahayu, Komai and Chan2007: 159, 3 figures – unnumbered; Reshmi & Bijukumar, Reference Reshmi and Bijukumar2011: 1771, figs. 1 A–F.

Materials Examined

PU/MB/551, dt. 27.03.2023: 1 male (SL: 4.85 mm), Kodiyaghat, 25 January 2023 – PU/MB/551/KD; 2 males (SL: 5.62 and 6.79 mm), 1 female (SL: 4.96 mm), Science Centre, 5 February 2023 – PU/MB/551/SC; 1 female (SL: 6.94 mm) Corbyn's Cove, 24 February 2023 – PU/MB/551/CC; 2 males (SL: 5.93 and 7.94 mm), Burmanallah, 22 March 2023 – PU/MB/551/BN.

Figure 2. Calcinus morgani Rahayu and Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999, male, SL: 6.79 mm; (A) entire specimen, dorsal view; (B) ocular peduncles and cephalic appendages, dorsal view; (C) left cheliped, lateral view; (D) right cheliped, lateral view; (E) right second pereopod, lateral view; (F) right third pereopod, lateral view; (G) sixth abdominal somite, telson, and uropods, dorsal view.

Diagnosis

Shield longer than broad, rostrum acutely triangular. Ocular peduncles slender, shorter than shield; ocular acicles subtriangular, each with a single distal spine. Antennular peduncle shorter than ocular peduncle, basal segment with 3–5 small spines on lateral face. Antennal acicle with a single terminal spine, lateral margin with 2 or 3 spines, mesial margins with 3–5 spines.

Left cheliped smoother and distinctly larger than right. Dactylus and fixed finger with 4 or 5 teeth and 2 or 3 teeth on respective cutting edge. Fixed finger and distal part of dactylus with tubercles on outer surface. Palm convex on outer surface.

Right cheliped dactylus with row of 5 or 6 spines on dorsal margin and with 2 or 3 teeth on cutting edge. Fixed finger with 3 or 4 teeth on cutting edge. Palm with tubercles on outer surface. Both chelipeds each with tubercle on dorsodistal margin of carpus and spine on ventrodistal margin of merus.

Ambulatory pereopods nearly smooth on surfaces. Propodi of second and third pereopods longer than dactyli, carpi each with dorso-distal spine; meri each with distal spine on ventral margin. Second pereopods with widely spaced small tufts of setae on ventral margins of propodi and dactyli. Third pereopods with dense tufts of setae on ventral margins of distal part of propodi and entire dactyli. Telson terminal lobes with 1–3 spines and 3–9 spines on right and left sides, respectively.

Colour in life: Shield bluish-grey to greyish-green or creamish, with anterior and lateral margins brown; rostral lobe also brown. Ocular peduncles dark brown on proximal half and blue on distal half. Antennular peduncles dark greenish brown, flagella orange. Antennal peduncles and flagella yellowish orange. Chelipeds reddish brown, paler towards distal part of palm and brownish on proximal part of palm and whole of merus and carpus; tips of fixed finger and dactylus, and teeth on cutting edge of chelipeds white. Second and third pereopods pale reddish-brown entirely, tips of dactyli white.

Colour in preservative: Shield becoming more creamish colour than in life. Blue colour of ocular peduncles disappearing, becoming light orange; dark brown colour getting paler. Brownish colour of chelipeds and second and third pereopods also getting paler.

Habitat and ecology: The present specimens were mainly found in small tide pools, associated with corals in the wave exposed intertidal region of rocky shores and were observed to co-exist with C. gaimardii. They inhabited the shells of gastropods of the families Fasciolariidae, Muricidae, and Trochidae.

Distribution: Wide Indo-West Pacific region, from south and east African coasts to the Society and Hawaiian Islands and Japan, through the southwestern coast of India, and Nicobar Islands (Haig and Ball, Reference Haig and Ball1988; Rahayu and Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999; McLaughlin and Dworschak, Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001; Asakura, Reference Asakura2002; Reshmi and Bijukumar, Reference Reshmi and Bijukumar2011). The present study shows a new record of C. morgani from the Andaman Islands.

Calcinus species recorded from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Patel et al., Reference Patel, Padate, Osawa, Tiwari, Vachhrajani and Trivedi2022)

Calcinus gaimardii (H. Milne Edwards, 1848) (Heller, Reference Heller1865*; Alcock, Reference Alcock1905; Reddy and Ramakrishna, Reference Reddy and Ramakrishna1972; Tikader et al., Reference Tikader, Daniel, Rao and Tikader1986; Kariathil et al., Reference Kariathil, Raff, Khan, Kannan, Ramakrishna, Raghunathan and Sivaperuman2010; Rao, Reference Rao2010).

Calcinus laevimanus (Randall, 1840) (Heller, Reference Heller1865* as C. tibicen (Herbst, 1791); McLaughlin and Dworschak, Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001 re-identified Heller's specimen as C. laevimanus; Alcock, Reference Alcock1905; Reddy and Ramakrishna, Reference Reddy and Ramakrishna1972; Tikader et al., Reference Tikader, Daniel, Rao and Tikader1986; Rao, Reference Rao2010, as C. herbstii De Man, 1888; Thomas, Reference Thomas1989; Kariathil et al., Reference Kariathil, Raff, Khan, Kannan, Ramakrishna, Raghunathan and Sivaperuman2010, as C. herbsti).

Calcinus latens (Randall, 1840) (Reddy and Ramakrishna, Reference Reddy and Ramakrishna1972*; Thomas, Reference Thomas1977; Tikader et al., Reference Tikader, Daniel, Rao and Tikader1986; Rao, Reference Rao2010).

C. morgani Rahayu and Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999 (Heller, Reference Heller1865*, as C. gaimardii; McLaughlin and Dworschak, Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001, re-identified part of Heller's material as C. morgani).

[* indicates the first record of the species from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.]

A Key to Calcinus species recorded from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

  1. 1. Ocular peduncles stout, same length as shield; dorsal margin of palm of right cheliped smooth; palms of chelipeds dark brown with white coloration; second and third pereopods with dark brown longitudinal stripesC. laevimanus

    • – Ocular peduncles slender, shorter than shield; outer margin of right cheliped with spines2

  2. 2. Third pereopod without brush of setae on ventral margins of dactylus and propodus; dactyli of second and third pereopods longer than propodi, with purplish-blue band proximallyC. latens

    • – Third pereopod with brush of setae on ventral margins of entire dactylus and of distal part of propodus; dactyli of second and third pereopods shorter than propodi, without purplish-blue band proximally3

  3. 3. Ocular peduncles orange with dark brown longitudinal stripe dorsally, narrow blue ring below corneas; shield dark brown; chelipeds and ambulatory pereopods dark brown; 2 or 3 anterodorsal plates of branchiostegites brownC. gaimardii

    • – Ocular peduncles dark brown proximally and blue distally; shield grey or greyish white, anterior and lateral margins brown; chelipeds and ambulatory pereopods reddish brown; only first anterodorsal plate of branchiostegite brown C. morgani

Discussion

The diogenid genus Calcinus is characterized by a triangular rostrum without a rostriform process formed between the ocular acicles, 13 pairs of gills, left cheliped larger than the right; cheliped fingers with calcareous tips, and colourful carapace and pereopods (Reay and Haig, Reference Reay and Haig1990; McLaughlin, Reference McLaughlin2002, Reference McLaughlin2003; McLaughlin et al., Reference McLaughlin, Rahayu, Komai and Chan2007; Naderloo et al., Reference Naderloo, Moradmand, Sari and Türkay2012). Species of this genus show very much morphological similarity, so their characteristic colour patterns in fresh condition are very important for the species identification (Poupin, Reference Poupin1997; McLaughlin et al., Reference McLaughlin, Rahayu, Komai and Chan2007; Jung and Park, Reference Jung and Park2023).

Calcinus morgani is differentiated from its closest Calcinus gaimardii by the coloration of the ocular peduncles, shield, and ambulatory legs (Rahayu and Forest, Reference Rahayu and Forest1999). Asakura (Reference Asakura2002) recognized an additional colour difference in the branchiostegites between the two species; in C. gaimardii, two or three anterodorsal plates are brown, whereas in C. morgani, only the first anterodorsal plate is brown. Asakura (Reference Asakura2002) also noticed habitat differences between the two species. Calcinus morgani inhabits the intertidal areas of rocky shores or coral reefs with direct wave action; whereas C. gaimardii is found in the subtidal zones of wave-sheltered regions. In the present study, both species were found together in tide pools of the intertidal region near corals with direct wave action, and C. gaimardii was also found in the subtidal region. In India, C. morgani has only been recorded from the Nicobar Islands (as C. gaimardii) and Kerala (McLaughlin and Dworschak, Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001; Reshmi and Bijukumar, Reference Reshmi and Bijukumar2011). Heller (Reference Heller1865) had recorded C. gaimardii from the Nicobar Islands, but McLaughlin and Dworschak (Reference McLaughlin and Dworschak2001) re-examined Heller's (Reference Heller1865) specimens and showed they actually belong to C. morgani instead. The present specimens represent the first record of C. morgani from the Andaman Islands, situated north to the Nicobar Islands.

During the present research in South Andaman Island, C. morgani was found to be more abundant and widely distributed than C. gaimardii along the southeastern coast. However, the former species has never been reported from the Andaman coasts, including the North and Middle Andamans. This primarily demonstrates that only very limited study on hermit crabs has been performed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Research on hermit crabs in India mainly focuses on their distribution, diversity, and choice of shell (Alcock, Reference Alcock1905; Henderson, Reference Henderson1915; Kamalaveni, Reference Kamalaveni1950; Khan and Natarajan, Reference Khan and Natarajan1981; Thomas, Reference Thomas1989; Reshmi and Bijukumar, Reference Reshmi and Bijukumar2011; Vaghela and Kundu, Reference Vaghela and Kundu2012; Jigneshkumar et al., Reference Jigneshkumar, Soni and Vachhrajani2015; Raval et al., Reference Raval, Kachhiya, Poriya and Kundu2015; Jhala et al., Reference Jhala, Munjpara, Joshi, Joshi and Chettiar2017; Trivedi and Vachhrajani, Reference Trivedi and Vachhrajani2017; Sardar et al., Reference Sardar, Ghosh, Ghosh, Bhattacharjee and Pal2019). Further studies are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the behaviour and ecology of hermit crabs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Data

Data will be made available on request.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the authorities of Pondicherry University for providing the necessary facilities to carry out the research work. The authors would like to thank Dr Gustav Paulay, Curator of Marine Malacology, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida, for helping with taxonomic identification. The authors appreciate Akshay, Ameen, Karthika, Naha, Pridvi, Nibir Samrat, Vigneswar, Dr Rijin, and Arjun for their help during the work.

Author contributions

Navyashree Aravind initiated the fieldwork, specimen collection, identification, and manuscript preparation. Ganesh Thiruchitrambalam reviewed the manuscript and made corrections.

Financial support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial, or not-for- profit sectors.

Competing interests

None.

Ethical standards

No animal testing was performed during the study.

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Figure 0

Figure 1. Study area: sampling sites of the present specimens of Calcinus morgani Rahayu and Forest, 1999.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Calcinus morgani Rahayu and Forest, 1999, male, SL: 6.79 mm; (A) entire specimen, dorsal view; (B) ocular peduncles and cephalic appendages, dorsal view; (C) left cheliped, lateral view; (D) right cheliped, lateral view; (E) right second pereopod, lateral view; (F) right third pereopod, lateral view; (G) sixth abdominal somite, telson, and uropods, dorsal view.