Aquatic Invasions (2009) Volume 4, Issue 4: 713-714 DOI 10.3391/ai.2009.4.4.21 © 2009 The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2009 REABIC (http://www.reabic.net) This is an Open Access article Short communication The occurrence of Carupa tenuipes Dana, 1851 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) from Rhodos Island (SE Aegean Sea, Greece) Maria Antonietta Pancucci-Papadopoulou 1* , Maria Corsini-Foka 2 , Kostantinos Tsiamis 1 and Stefanos Kalogirou 2 1 Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, 19013 Anavyssos, Greece Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Hydrobiological Station, Cos Street, 85100 Rhodos, Greece Email: apan@ath.hcmr.gr (MAPP), mcorsini@ath.hcmr.gr (MCF), kostas.tsiamis@gmail.com (KT), skalogirou@hcmr.gr (SK) * Corresponding author 2 Received 9 July 2009; accepted in revised form 11 September 2009; published online 23 September 2009 Abstract A specimen of Carupa tenuipes Dana, 1851 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) from the eastern coastline of Rhodos Island is reported from under stones of a rocky substrate with low vegetation coverage at 0.5 m. Carupa tenuipes is considered to be a well established alien decapod species in the Eastern Mediterranean. Key words: alien crustaceans, Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae, Carupa tenuipes, habitat, range extension, SE Aegean Sea Carupa tenuipes Dana, 1851 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) is widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea, East Africa and Madagascar to Japan, Australia, French Polynesia, and Hawaii (Apel and Spiridonov 1998). Galil (2004) reported the first occurrence of this portunid species in the Mediterranean Sea, from near Tel Aviv. Since then, the presence of Carupa tenuipes has been recorded from the Turkish coast off Kas Peninsula (Yokes and Galil 2004), and recently from between Iskenderun and Fethiye (Yokes and Galil 2006) and Datça Peninsula, separated by a narrow strait from Rhodos Island (Yokes et al. 2007). The species is known to inhabit coral reef and coral rubble in the Western Indo-Pacific (Spiridonov and Neumann 2008), where it has been reported as living exclusively on the exposed reef (Vannini and Innocenti 2000), from the intertidal to 80 m depth. In the Mediterranean it has been reported from rocky bottoms (Yokes and Galil 2004) and off a submerged sandstone ridge on biogenic rubble (Galil 2004). Thus, it seems that the species shows a great capability of adaptation to new and different habitats. Its recent finding under stones during daylight supports the nocturnal habits of the species observed in the Mediterranean (Yokes and Galil 2004). A single specimen of Carupa tenuipes Dana, 1851 was collected on April, 8, 2009, during a survey of the benthic fauna along the South Eastern coasts of Rhodos island (Lardos, south of Lindos: 36°04'07"N 28°00'17"E, Figure 1). The specimen was found under stones at 0.5 m on rocky bottom with a low hydrodynamic regime and vegetation coverage. Dominant algal species were Cystoseira spp., Dictyota dichotoma (Hudson) Lamouroux 1809, Taonia atomaria (Wooward) J. Agardh 1848, Stypocaulon scoparium (Linnaeus) Kützing 1843, Padina pavonica (Linnaeus) Thivy in W.R. Taylor 1960, Jania rubens (Linnaeus) Lamouroux 1816, Liagora sp. The zoobenthos was abundant and diverse, including molluscs, echinoderms, polychaetes, etc. Among molluscs the new alien species for Greek waters Cerithium scabridum Philippi, 1848 was abundant (Zenetos et al. 2009). It is worth mentioning that the sampling site was located next to a pier used by large ships. The specimen was a male with carapace 713 M.A. Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al. dimensions: CL 12 mm, CW 17 mm (Figure 2). It is deposited in the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research collection, registration number C101. To date, 13 alien decapod species (including 9 brachyurans) have been identified along the coasts of Rhodos Island (ELNAIS 2009), 11 of which have Indo-Pacific origin and have reached the SE Aegean by traversing the Suez Canal. This record extends the previous known range of Carupa tenuipes by approximately 80 Km southward from Datça Peninsula and 120 Km westward from Fethiye. Acknowledgements Figure 1. Location of the sampling site Our thanks go to two anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions on the manuscript. We also thank D. Papadopoulos for specimen’s photos. This study was supported by the Prefecture of the Dodecanese, Project “Study of alien marine biota from the SE Aegean” References Figure 2. Carupa tenuipes from Rhodos Island, dorsal (A) and ventral (B) view. Photograph by D. Papadopoulos 714 Apel M, Spiridonov VA (1998) Taxonomy and zoogeography of the portunid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae) of the Arabian Gulf and the adjacent waters. Fauna Arabia 17: 159-331 ELNAIS (2009) Ellenic Network on Aquatic Invasive Species https://services.ath.hcmr.gr (Accessed 7 July 2009) Galil BS (2004) Carupa tenuipes Dana, 1851: an Indo-Pacific swimming crab new to the Mediterranean (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae). Crustaceana 77 (2): 249-251 Spiridonov VA, Neumann V (2008) Coral-inhabiting swimming crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Portunidae) of the Sudanese Red Sea. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 8: 170e1-170e19 Vannini M, Innocenti G (2000) Research on the coast of Somalia. Portunidae (Crustacea Brachyura). Tropical Zoology 13: 251-298 Yokes MB, Galil BS (2004) New records of alien decapods from the Southwestern coast of Turkey. Rapport et Procès-verbaux des Réunion. 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