First Record of Galatheid Squat Lobster, Shinkaia crosnieri Baba & Williams, 1998 (Decapoda: Galatheoidea) from Cold-seep Environment of the Indian Ocean

Abstract

In this paper, we report the first record of the deep-water squat lobster, Shinkaia crosnieri~Baba and Williams~1998 from the Indian waters.Specimens were collected from cold seep environment located at 1750-1760~m depth in the Krishna-Godavari basin, western Bay of Bengal, India.This species was only distributed in the Western Pacific, and the present observation assumes significance as it extends the distribution record west to the Indian Ocean.Notes on its morphological diagnosis and geographical distribution are also provided.