Acanthacaris caeca

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	ARTHROPODA	CRUSTACEA	DECAPODA	NEPHROPIDAE

Scientific Name:

Acanthacaris caeca

Species Authority:

(A. Milne-Edwards, 1881)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Atlantic Deep-sea Lobster, Blind Deep-sea Lobster
French	–	Langoustine Arganelle
Spanish	–	Cigala de Fondo

Synonym/s:

Neophoberus caecus A. Milne-Edwards, 1881

Phoberus caecus A. Milne-Edwards, 1881

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2011
Assessor/s:	Chan, T.Y.
Reviewer/s:	Collen, B., Livingstone, S. & Richman, N.
Contributor/s:	Batchelor, A., De Silva, R., Dyer, E., Kasthala, G., Lutz, M.L., McGuinness, S., Milligan, H.T., Soulsby, A.-M. & Whitton, F.
Justification: Acanthacaris caeca has been assessed as Least Concern because it has a large distribution, and is not being impacted by any major threat process.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is distributed throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Straits of Florida, and the coast of Brazil (Palomares and Pauly 2009). The type locality for this species is Blake Station 264, off Grenada, West Indies (12º03'15'N 61º48'30'W) (Holthuis 1991).
Countries:	Native: Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Brazil; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; United States (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas); Venezuela
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – western central
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Tavares (2002) records this species as having been 'obtained in sizeable quantities' during exploratory deep trawling operations in the Caribbean. Escobar-Briones et al. (2008) found the species to be common in the Mexican Ridges and Campeche Bank in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This deep sea species inhabits burrows in soft mud substrate (Holthuis 1991). This species has been found within a depth range of 293 - 878 m. Although the species can reach 40 cm in length, it is more commonly found at 25 cm (Palomares and Pauly 2009).
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	It is unlikely that any major threat is impacting this species. However, it may be that at some point in the future if it is deemed commercially viable to harvest this species.

Major Threat(s):

It is unlikely that any major threat is impacting this species. However, it may be that at some point in the future if it is deemed commercially viable to harvest this species.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	There are no species-specific conservation measures in place for this species.

Conservation Actions:

There are no species-specific conservation measures in place for this species.

Citation:	Chan, T.Y. 2011. Acanthacaris caeca. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 May 2013.
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