Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-023-00566-1

First Record of Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards (Crustacea:

Decapoda: Brachyura) from the East Coast of India
Somesh Banerjee1 · Chemmencheri Ramakrishnan Sreeraj2

Received: 12 September 2022 / Revised: 1 May 2023 / Accepted: 23 May 2023

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

Abstract
The study deals with the widespread distribution of Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards, 1834 species in Visakhapatnam.
Currently, the distribution of O. tuberculosus, covers the Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, the Lakshadweep Islands, and
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which herein we report the new record from Yarada beach (17° 39’ 17.28’’ N, 83° 16’
10.92’’ E), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh as well as east coast of India. Additionally, we provided new details regarding
the geographic range of this species in India as well as a taxonomic comparision of Ozius species reported to the country.

Keywords Crab · Taxonomy · Oziidae · Visakhapatnam · New record · Geographical distribution

Introduction Based on that, herein the discovery of O. tuberculosis

on the east coast of India along with in the state of Andhra
Among the macro-benthic communities of the maritime hab- Pradesh, as well as its taxonomic keys and overall distribu-
itats, the brachyuran crabs constitute one of the prominent tion in India and world, are reported in this paper. As result
faunal groupings. They are found in most marine habitats of the “Faunal Inventorization of the Smart Cities of Andhra
such as coral reefs, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, man- Pradesh” project, which is a part of the Indian government’s
groves, and seagrass meadows (Van Tho et al. 2018). “National Smart City Mission,“ that consists of numerous
The diversity of marine brachyuran crab in Andhra surveys conducted all across the Visakhapatnam city. This
Pradesh has been reported to be 121 species, belonging to project’s major goal is to catalogue every variety of faunal
67 genera, and 27 families (Trivedi et al. 2018; Valarmathi groups, their diversity, and habitats. The identification of
2020). The family Oziidae Dana 1851 has 7 genera, being 19 high faunal diversity zones within cities is another objective
species belonging the genus Ozius Milne-Edwards 1834 (Ng for better managing and conserving faunal diversity.
2008). The crabs Ozius guttatus H. Milne Edwards, 1834,
O. rugulosus Stimpson, 1858, and O. tuberculosus H. Milne
Edwards, 1834 are the only species of the genus reported Materials and Methods
from India thus far. All three of these species can be found
along the west coast, from Kerala to Maharashtra however The samples were collected in January 2022 during the
only the first two species i.e. O. guttatus and O. rugulosus, research project “Faunal Inventorisation of Smart Cit-
have been documented on the east coast (Khot et al. 2016; ies of Andhra Pradesh (Amravati and Visakhapatnam),“
Trivedi et al. 2018). which surveys were conducted at Visakhapatnam coast,
India (Fig. 1). Three males of O. tuberculosus were col-
lected from the intertidal zone at Yarada beach (17° 39’
* Somesh Banerjee 17.28’’ N, 83° 16’ 10.92’’ E) near Yarada village in
[email protected]
Visakhapatnam, India. The specimens were brought to the
1
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey laboratory and the pleon and gonopods were dissected.
of India, Plot 366/1, O/o DFO Flying squad Hyderguda, Following that, gonopods were examined with an Olym-
Attapur, Hyderabad 500 048, India pus SZX10 stereo-zoomed microscope, and photographs
2
Western Ghat Regional Centre, Zoological Survey were taken with a Leica M205 microscope and a Nikon
of India, Jafer Khan Colony, Eranhipalam, Kozhikode, D500 equipped with a Nikkor 40 mm lens kit. Collected
Kerala 673 006, India

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 Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences

Fig. 1  Distribution of Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards, 1834 in the Indian subcontinent

specimens were preserved in 10% formaldehyde solu- Result

tion for future references. All morphometric data were
recorded by digital caliper (millimeters) (Table 1). A Systematic Accounts
distributional account of this species throughout India
as well as throughout the world also prepared along with Infraorder Brachyura Latreille 1802.
the taxonomic account. With the aid of identifying keys, the Superfamily Eriphioidea MacLeay, 1838.
specimens were identified to species level following Alcock Family Oziidae Dana, 1851.
(1898), Ng (1998), Davie et al. (2015) and Palomares Sub family Oziinae Dana, 1851.
and Pauly (2016). All the specimens were registered and Genus Ozius Milne-Edwards, 1834.
deposited at the National Zoological Collection, Zoologi- Species Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards, 1834
cal Survey of India, Freshwater Biology Regional Centre (Fig. 2A-F).
(FBRC/ZSI/M/217).

Material Examined

Table 1  Morphometric measurements of Ozius tuberculosus H.Milne Three males (Fig. 2), Yarada beach, Visakhapatnam, Bay of
Edwards 1834 collected from Andhra Pradesh, India Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, India, (17° 39’ 17.28’’ N, 83° 16’
Sl. No. Carapace Measurements Length (mm) 10.92’’ E), on 22.01.2022, Coll. Dr. Deepa Jaiswal & party,
Accession No: FBRC/ZSI/M/217.
1 Length of Carapace 10.38–40
2 Width of Carapace 14.5–29
3 Height of Carapace 5.68–16 Diagnostic Characters
4 Frontal length (Length between 5.32–14.32
two eyes) Carapace broad, transversely oval, surface rough. Cara-
5 Ventral Length 5.56–13.95 pace regions of deeply defined. Anterolateral borders of

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Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences

Fig. 2  Male specimens of Ozius

tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards,
1834 (FBRC/ZSI/M/217), A
and C Dorsal and ventral view
– showing colour in life. B and
D Dorsal and ventral view of
preserved specimen. E Male
pleon of preserved specimen.
F Frontal view of preserved
specimen

carapace divided into 5 teeth, covered by small tubercles. bigger cheliped with curved teeth. Five anterolateral teeth
Frontal teeth divided into four tuberculate protuberances. on both sides of carapace. Morphometric measurements
Five anterolateral teeth on both sides of carapace. With- are given in Table 1.
out lateral spine (Fig. 2A, B). Male chelipeds unequal in First gonopod stout, little bit straight and sides with setae.
size, carpus and palm swollen. Movable finger of bigger Second gonopod whip like, very thin and curled at the apical
cheliped with a tubercle on proximal margin. Finger of region, larger than the first gonopod (Fig. 3A-C).

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Fig. 3  Gonopods of Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards, 1834 (FBRC/ZSI/M/217), A Second gonopod. B Detailed view of the apical region
of the first gonopods. C First gonopod

Colour Northern and Southern Daito-jima (Sakai 1976), Taiwan

(Lai et al. 1997), China - Hainan Island (Dai and Yang 1991),
Male’s carapace and pleon region fully purple colored with Malaysia, New Caledonia (Forges and Peter 2006) (Fig. 4).
pearly white and yellowish tubercles on carapace. Eyes
black, dactyl umber coloured. Mesogastric region of the
carapace having “U”-shaped white coloured spot. Coxa of Discussion
pereopods umber to light yellowish (Fig. 2A-F).
The state of Andhra Pradesh is rich in biodiversity due to
Habitat its extensive coastal reach and the biggest proportion of the
Eastern Ghats. Sandal, rocky, patchy coral, and mangrove
Typically inhabits rocky intertidal shores, living between rocks habitats are the crowning attributes of its coastal ecology.
in these areas (Fig. 4). The majority of decapods exhibit cryptic behavioral pat-
terns, which evolved in many animals that match the visual
Distribution background to avoid detection (Uy et al. 2017). In India,
along with O. tuberculosus, two more species of the genus
India: Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Alcock, 1898), Andhra are encountered,-: O. guttatus and O. rugulosus. All three
Pradesh (current report), Karnataka (Dev Roy 2013), Ker- of these species significantly prefer to live on rocky sea-
ala (Dev Roy 2013; Shet et al. 2016), Lakshadweep Islands shores and in the crevices between rocky outcrops. Because
(Trivedi et al. 2018) and Maharashtra (Khot et al. 2016). of the colour of the carapace, they can camouflage among
Elsewhere: Mauritius (Michel 1964), Mergui Archipelago the rocks for protection and to catch prey. Ozius tuberculosus
(Alcock, 1898), Japan - Northern Daito-jima (Sakai 1939), also known as “Beaded rock crab” for living rocky habitats.

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Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences

Fig. 4  Natural habitat of Ozius

tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards,
1834, Yarada beach (17°
39' 17.28'' N, 83° 16' 10.92''
E), Visakhapatnam, Andhra
Pradesh, India

Ozius guttatus is reddish to dark brown, the carapace is that the posterior half of the carapace is very rough and pig-
smooth which distinguishes it from the other two species mented with grooves. In O. rugolosus the right cheliped is
found in India. The carapace of O. rugolosus has fine gran- significantly larger and more robust than the left, compared
ules and ridges like that of O. tuberculosus, but the posterior to O. tuberculosus, which having slightly unequal Chelipeds
half of the carapace is smooth, unlike of O. tuberculosus with sub equal finger in right cheliped. The species Ozius

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Fig. 5  World distribution of Ozius tuberculosus H. Milne Edwards, 1834, new distributional record in red

tuberculosus has numerous white pigmentations on the cara- and Maharashtra, respectively, by Dev Roy (2013) and Khot
pace, which the other two species from India lacking. Ozius et al. (2016).
tuberculosus type locality is Mauritius, and it is distributed Even yet, there is a distinction in the colour pattern
from the Indian Ocean to the east China Sea to the Cora Sea between the species found in the west and east coasts. The
in the southern hemisphere (Fig. 5). The distribution of this colour pattern of Ozius tuberculosus, which ranges from
species is primarily found in the south Asian countries and umber to red (Fig. 2), is clearly visible in all specimens that
in one country in Oceania, i.e. New Caledonia (Fig. 5). In were collected from the western shore and documented in
India, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Lakshadweep earlier works (Khot et al. 2016). But what we have here is
Islands are the three southwestern states and Union Territory very different from that, with a carapace and pleon that are
from which O. tuberculosis has previously been recorded entirely purple. This pattern of coloration may be due to
(Fig. 1). Its distribution is visible in another the Union Ter- environmental influences such salinity, temperature, pH, and
ritory, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the eastern habitat preferences. Considering the length of the shoreline
region of India. This species was mentioned in the studies and the variability in environmental circumstances, the num-
of several researchers, including Henderson (1893), Alcock ber of species reported from Visakhapatnam is remarkably
(1898), Forest and Guinot (1961), Serene (1984), Tweedie low. Therefore, more thorough studies should be conducted
(1950), Poupin (1996), Ng (1998, 2008), and Dineshbabu to understand more about the true diversity of marine brach-
et al. (2011). Later, the same species were listed from Kerala yurans in this region.

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Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Forges RD, Peter KLNG (2006) Copepodium of the marine species
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