''Nephropsis atlantica'', sometimes called the scarlet lobsterette or scarlet clawed lobster, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Description

''Nephropsis atlantica'' is relatively small for a lobster, growing to a maximum total length of . The eyes are unpigmented, in contrast to shallow-water species, and the

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...

and

chelae A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...

are covered in

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. ...

e (bristles).

Distribution

''Nephropsis atlantica'' is found on muddy substrates in deep waters of the eastern

, from the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It has been recorded at depths of , but is most frequent at . It is one of only three clawed lobsters in the north-east Atlantic Ocean (the others being ''

Homarus gammarus ''Homarus gammarus'', known as the European lobster or common lobster, is a species of clawed lobster from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Black Sea. It is closely related to the American lobster, ''H. amer ...

'' and '' Nephrops norvegicus''), and the only one which is not the subject of

commercial fishery Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often p ...

Taxonomy

''Nephropsis atlantica'' was first described by the Reverend Canon Alfred Merle Norman in a report sent to

Charles Wyville Thomson Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (5 March 1830 – 10 March 1882) was a Scottish natural historian and marine zoologist. He served as the chief scientist on the Challenger expedition; his work there revolutionized oceanography and led to his knigh ...

in 1880, and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1882. The report was one of several published simultaneously on the various organisms dredged up by the ship ''Knight Errant'' in the

Faroe–Shetland Channel The Faroe–Shetland Channel is stretch of the North Atlantic lying between the two island groups of Shetland and the Faroe Islands. The channel is a rift basin that separates the Scottish and the Faroese continental shelves, and has a maximu ...

. Norman's report opens "I send a list; it is a very interesting one", and goes on to detail species known from previous expeditions to the North Atlantic and three new species – '' Ampelisca compacta'' (

Amphipoda Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...

Ampeliscidae The Ampeliscidae are a family of amphipods, distinct enough to warrant placement in a monotypic superfamily Ampeliscoidea. They are benthic, found at the bottom of seas and oceans. They are distributed worldwide, and are often abundant in areas ...

), '' Halirages elegans'' (

: Calliopiidae) and ''Nephropsis atlantica''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

s were collected on August 10, 1880 at at a depth of ; they are presumed to have been lost since.

Notes

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5234385 True lobsters Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1882