We report on the marine fouling and fouling release effects caused by variations of surface mechanical properties and microtopography of engineering polymers. Polymeric materials were covered with hierarchical micromolded topographical patterns inspired by the shell of the marine decapod crab Myomenippe hardwickii. These micropatterned surfaces were deployed in field static immersion tests. PDM...

MARTYN E. Y. LOW & PETER K. L. NG Department of Environmental and Marine Sciences, Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan. Current address: The Cleft, Lot 8474, Bukit Tinggi, 28750 Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected] Tropical Marine Science Institute and Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National Un...

A small collection of freshwater crabs from eastern Panamá revealed a new species of pseudothelphusid crab, Potamocarcinus darienensis n. sp., which is described and illustrated. The new species is characterized by an unusual arrangement of distal processes in the male first gonopod, in which the mesial lobe is folded in a latero-cephalic direction over the apex and the apex is broadened by a r...

The process of flow generation with metachronally beating pleopods in a tubiform burrow was studied by designing a hydrodynamic model based on a thrust-drag force balance. The drag of the tube (including the shrimp) comprises components for accelerating the water into the tube entrance, for adjusting a parabolic velocity profile, for accelerating the flow into a constriction due to the shrimp's...

We present here the genera and species of the family Diogenidae recorded from Brazil, with the exception of the genus Paguristes. We provide a diagnosis, synonymy and illustrations for each species of the nine genera from Brazil and identification keys for genera represented by more than one species.

Recent scientific interest following the "discovery" of lithodid crabs around Antarctica has centred on a hypothesis that these crabs might be poised to invade the Antarctic shelf if the recent warming trend continues, potentially decimating its native fauna. This "invasion hypothesis" suggests that decapod crabs were driven out of Antarctica 40-15 million years ago and are only now returning a...

Study of hermit crabs from Alboran Sea has allowed recognition of two different morphological forms under what had been understood as Pagurus forbesii. Based on morphological observations with various species of Pagurus, and molecular studies, a new species is described as P. pseudosculptimanus. An overview of species of Pagurus from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea is provided.

Six species of the peculiar mud-shrimp genus Naushonia Kingsley, 1897 (Laomediidae) from various localities in the world are treated in this study: N. carinata Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006 (newly recorded from Japan); N. japonica Komai, 2004 (second record since the original description); N. lactoalbida Berggren, 1992 (newly recorded from Papua New Guinea); N. portoricensis (Rathbun, 1901) (n...

* Correspondence: [email protected]

Benthic fauna in the hadal zone (6500-11,000 m) rely on maintaining sufficient locomotory activity to exploit a low, patchy and uniquely distributed food supply while exposed to high pressure, low temperatures and responding to predator-prey interactions. Very little is currently known about the locomotory capabilities of hadal fauna. In situ video footage of the isopod Rectisura cf. herculea (...