On the occurrence of Inermis leach in Indian waters with taxonomic notes on the species

Abstract

The Bnachiuran crab, Ixa inermis Leach is recorded from the Bay of Bengal, and its male is being reported for the first time from the Indian Waters. During the study of the trawler catches of Madras (Rayapuram cenltre) two females and one male specimens of a Brachiuran crab, Ixa inermis Leach, were obtained. The original description of Ixa inermis by Leach (1 817) is from a specimen obtailned from Malay Arahipelago. Sluseelan (1971) recorded a single female specimen of this species from the west coast of India. This is the first record of Ixa inermis Leach from the Bay of Bengal and the male is recorded for (the first time from the Indian Watrs. Since Ixa inermis is known from only very few specimens Holthuis and Gottlieb (1956) suggested that more material has to be examined to get a clear picture of the species as they felt that the original description of the (species by Leach (181 7) was inadequate. Hence the specimens collected were examined carefully and described in greater detail here.