Reef lobster

{{Short description|Genus of crustaceans}} {{Automatic Taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|279|0}} Middle Permian - present | name = Reef lobsters | image = Enoplometopus antillensis01.jpg | image_caption = ''Enoplometopus antillensis'' | grandparent_authority = De Saint Laurent, 1988 | parent_authority = De Saint Laurent, 1988 | taxon = Enoplometopus | authority = A. Milne Edwards, 1862 | display_parents = 3 | synonyms = ''Hoplometopus'' {{small|Holthuis, 1983}} | type_species = ''Enoplometopus pictus'' | type_species_authority = A. Milne Edwards, 1862 <ref>{{cite journal |author=L. B. Holthuis |author-link=Lipke Holthuis |year=1983 |title=Notes on the genus ''Enoplometopus'', with descriptions of a new subgenus and two new species (Crustacea Decapoda, Axiidae) |journal=Zoologische Mededelingen |volume=56 |issue=22 |pages=281–298, pls. 1–4 |url=http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/149232 |format=PDF}}</ref> }}

'''Reef lobsters''', '''''Enoplometopus''''', are a genus of small lobsters that live on reefs in the Indo-Pacific, Caribbean and warmer parts of the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name=Debelius>{{cite book |author=Helmut Debelius |year=2001 |title=Crustacea: Guide of the World |pages=44–54, 200–205 |isbn=978-3-931702-74-8 |publisher=IKAN, Unterwasserarchiv |location=Frankfurt am Main}}</ref>

==Description== Species of ''Enoplometopus'' occur from coral reefs at depths of less than {{convert|1|m}}<ref>{{Cite iucn | author = Chan, T.Y. | author2 = Wahle, R. |name-list-style=amp | title = ''Enoplometopus daumi'' | volume = 2011 | article-number = e.T184985A8340177 | date = 2011 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T184985A8340177.en }}</ref> to rocky reefs at depths of {{convert|300|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite iucn | author = Chan, T.Y. | author2 = Wahle, R. |name-list-style=amp | title = ''Enoplometopus gracilipes'' | volume = 2011 | article-number = e.T185005A8345117 | date = 2011 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T185005A8345117.en }}</ref> They are brightly coloured, with stripes, rings, or spots. They are typically mainly red, orange, purplish and white.<ref name=Debelius/> Reef lobsters are small (depending on species, up to {{convert|10|-|13|cm|0|disp=or}}), nocturnal (spending the day in caves or crevices), and very timid.<ref name=Debelius/> The species can be distinguished by their colouration and morphology.<ref name=Debelius/> left|thumb|231x231px|Fossil ''Uncina posidoniae'' As a result of their bright colours, they are popular in the aquarium trade, and unregulated collection combined with destruction of coral reefs may threaten some species. Due to uncertainty over the impact of these potential threats, the majority are considered data deficient by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<ref>{{cite web |author=T. Y. Chan |author2=R. Wahle |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/ |work=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species |title=Version 2011.1 |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature |access-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref>

Reef lobsters are distinguished from clawed lobsters (family Nephropidae) by having full chelae (''claws'') only on the first pair of pereiopods, the second and third pairs being only subchelate (where the last segment of the appendage can press against a short projection from the penultimate one). Clawed lobsters have full claws on the first three pereiopods. Males, unlike those of nephropoid lobsters, have an extra lobe on the second pleopod, which is assumed to have some function in reproduction. Reef lobsters have a shallow cervical groove while clawed lobsters have a deep cervical groove.<ref name="StL">{{cite journal |author=Michèle de Saint Laurent |author-link=Michèle de Saint Laurent |year=1988 |title=Enoplometopoidea, nouvelle superfamille de Crustacés Décapodes Astacidea |journal=Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences |volume=307 |series=III |pages=59–62}}</ref>

Although there is no fossil record of reef lobsters, there is some evidence that they may be related to the extinct genus ''Eryma'' which lived from the Permo-Triassic to the late Cretaceous.<ref>{{cite journal |author=F. R. Schram |author-link=Frederick Schram |author2=C. J. Dixon |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |title=Decapod phylogeny: addition of fossil evidence to a robust morphological cladistic data set |journal=Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum |volume=31 |pages=1–19 |url=http://isopods.nhm.org/pdfs/30635/30635.pdf |format=PDF}}</ref> It was later found to be a sister taxon of the Jurassic Lobster ''Uncina'' ''posidoniae'', with the clade Enoplometopoidea including both enoplometopid and enigmatic uncinid lobsters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Devillez |first=Julien |last2=Sylvain |first2=Charbonnier |last3=Véronique |first3=Barriel |date=2019 |title=An attempt to clarify phylogenetic affinities of erymid lobsters (Decapoda) using morphological characters |url=https://hal.science/hal-02547518 |journal=Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=365–395 |doi=10.26049/ASP77-3-2019-1}}</ref>

==Species== The genus contains the following species:<ref>{{cite journal |author=J. Poupin |year=2003 |title=Reef lobsters ''Enoplometopus'' A. Milne Edwards, 1862 from French Polynesia, with a brief revision of the genus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Enoplometopidae) |journal=Zoosystema |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=643–664 |url=http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/zoosyst/z03n4a5.pdf |format=PDF}}</ref>

{{Linked species list | Enoplometopus antillensis | Lütken, 1865 | Enoplometopus callistus | Intès and Le Loeuff, 1970 | Enoplometopus chacei | Kensley and Child, 1986 | Enoplometopus crosnieri | Chan and Yu, 1998 | Enoplometopus daumi | Holthuis, 1983 | Enoplometopus debelius | Holthuis, 1983 | Enoplometopus gracilipes | (De Saint Laurent, 1988) | Enoplometopus holthuisi | Gordon, 1968 | Enoplometopus occidentalis | (Randall, 1840) | Enoplometopus pictus | A. Milne Edwards, 1862 | Enoplometopus voigtmanni | Türkay, 1989 }}

==References== {{Reflist|32em}}

Category:Decapods