Benthic decapod crustaceans (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Cubagua Island, Venezuela

Study Extent

The sampling area comprises 47 stations along the coastal line of Cubagua island, each station was a transversal line to the costal between the supralitoral and 100 m (supralittoral, 0–25 m, 25–50 m, 50–75 m, 75–100 m) into the sea. Each stations were sampled once from march 2001 to june 2004.

Sampling

A total of 282 collections were taken in 47 stations around Cubagua Island. Rocky shores were sampled by apnea diving, specimens collected manually and substrate samples placed in plastic bags and posteriorly examined in the laboratory. Sandy and muddy beaches and Thalassia beds were sampled with a trawl net (30 m length x 2 m height x 1 cm mesh), and the substrate sampled with a shovel in 4 l plastic bags or with a yabby pump and examined in a2 mm mesh sieve.

Method steps

1. From the edge (mediolitoral), 100 m long transects were made perpendicular to the beach line, for which a rope marked every 25 meters was laid on the seabed. In each mark (0-25-75-100) a square 50 cm on each side by 30 high was placed and with the use of a metal spoon, about 2 to 3 kg of substrate (sand) was extracted, which was placed in plastic bags. The sand was sifted through two sieves (5 and 2 mm mesh opening) and tweezers and fine needles were used to extract the macrobentonite organisms. In each brand, samples of dominant organisms (eg corals, octocorals, rocks with epigraphs) were obtained by means of apnea diving, placing in a fiber bag for 0 Kg. On the beach or boat the epifauna present on the octocorals was removed and in the case The corals and rocks were checked externally and the infauna was extracted, they were broken into small fractions to obtain the animals present. They were separated into large groups and placed in plastic frames with 10% formaldehyde in seawater.

All crustacean decpaods were identified to genus and species level, incluiding mainly shrimps and crabs

1. Malacostraca
   rank: class
2. Decapoda
   rank: order

Cubagua is a semi-arid island of 22 km2 situated in eastern Venezuela (10°47'-10º51'N; 64°8'-64°14'W).It is strongly influenced by coastal upwelling and is characterized by a shallow continental shelf with sandy bottoms of mainly coarse sediments. The surface water temperature ranges between 22°C and 26°C and exhibits continuous high productivity