Dorippoides facchino (Herbst, 1785)

(Fig. 4D)

Restricted Synonymy:

Cancer facchino Herbst, 1785: 190, pl. 11, fig. 68.

Dorippe astuta Fabricius, 1798: 361 .

Dorippe facchino .— Thurston, 1890: 82.—Thurston, 1895: 119.— Henderson, 1893: 405.— Alcock, 1896: 278.— Chopra, 1933: 50.— Alcock, 1896: 280.

Dorippe granulata Alcock, 1896: 270 .

Dorippe facchino alcocki Chopra, 1933: 51 .

Dorippe (Dorippoides) facchino Serene & Romimohtarto, 1969: 4 .

Dorippoides facchino Holthuis & Manning, 1990: 49, figs. 19–25.— Dev Roy & Nandi, 2007: 172.— Dev Roy & Nandi, 2012: 190.— Kumar et al., 2007: 285.— Ng et al., 2008: 59.— Krishnamoorthy, 2009: 9.— Kathirvel & Gokul, 2010: 11.— Varadharajan & Soundarapandian, 2014: 679.— Trivedi et al., 2018: 34.

Material examined. FSI/ CRUST: 238, 1 male (CL 20.0 mm, CW 18.0 mm), 18°02.1’N, 83°49.5’E, 31–33 m, on sea anemone Cancrisocia expansa, coll. K. Silambarasan, 22 June 2018 .

Distribution. Sri Lanka, Andaman Sea off Myanmar, Mergui Archipelago, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China (Holthuis & Manning 1990) and India (Trivedi et al. 2018).

Commensalism. Dorippoides facchino is commonly associated with sea anemones and bivalve shells (Hothuis & Manning, 1990). Hornell (1923) recorded Dorippe frascone (as D. dorsipes) carrying a single valve of small clam on which was attached a sea anemone. In the present study, D. facchino was associated with the sea anemone Cancrisocia expansa Stimpson, 1856, which completely covers the back of the crab. The sea anemone secretes from its base a thin, firm pellicle, to which it adheres, and by which the crab holds it in position with its posterior legs. It appears that when very young, the crab holds over its back a minute piece of shell or gravel upon which the sea anemone lodges, and afterwards by expanding its basal pellicule as the crab grows, it provides it with a permanent protection.

Remarks. Several authors pointed out, Dorippe sima H. Milne Edwards, 1837 is a junior synonym of Dorippoides facchino . As shown by Serene & Romimontarto (1969) erroneously described in the inner lower orbital tooth as short and rounded, for first figure it is shown to be large and pointed as is normal for the species. Morton & Morton (1983) described Dorippe granulata from Hong Kong waters. Actually, their specimen is Dorippoides facchino as clearly indicated by the figures. The second and third pereopods have long setae on the merus, carpus and propodus in D. facchino . In Paradorippe granulata (de Haan, 1841) the setae on these legs, if visible at all, are very short. The sea anemone carried by the crab reported by Morton & Morton (1983) is Cancrisocia expansa as these crabs hold the hardened base of the sea anemone, whereas in the sea anemone Carcinactis ichikawi Uchida, 1960, commensal with Paradorippe granulata is attached to a bivalve shell that the crab carries about.