-

Type Description

The colour of H. dollfusi changes according to age and development. Immature parasites appear whitish, but with maturity turns yellow, then yellowish-brown. Older parasites are known to become dark brown with a thick and wrinkled cuticle (Galil & Lützen, 1995).

Habitat

Heterosaccus dollfusi is a Lessepsian migrant, which entered the Med- iterranean from the Red Sea, transported by its host Charybdis longicollis (Galil & Lützen, 1995). The first record of the crab from the Mediterranean was from the Bay of Mersin, Turkey, 1954 (Holthuis, 1961). Since that date, it has been recorded from the Levant coasts of Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus (Lewinsohn & Holthuis, 1986). In that area, the parasite was previously known only to occur along the Mediterranean coast of Israel (Galil & Lützen, 1995). Outside the Med- iterranean, H. dollfusi is only known from the Gulf of Suez (Monod, 1938; Boschma, 1960 a).

Reproductive Information

Lifecycle

As adults they lack appendages, segmentation, and all internal organs except gonads, a few muscles, and the remains of the nervous system. Females also have a cuticle, which is never shed.Other than the minute larval stages, there is nothing identifying them as crustaceans or even arthropods in general. The only distinguishable portion of a rhizocephalan body is the externa; the reproductive portion of adult females.

Nutrition Information

General Impact Information

General Management Information

General Pathway Information

The initial records of Heterosaccus dollfusi come from the shores of Israel, but over time, it is known to have spread as far as the eastern Anatolian coasts of Turkey.

Notes

References