Keeled Mud Lobster, Calocarides quinqueseriatus

Keeled Mud Lobster, Calocarides quinqueseriatus. Photograph taken within the Chedraui Mercado, San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur. Plentiful and very small in stature and sold as Langosta de Lodo Carinana at the premium price of $10.00 each.  Length: 12 cm (4.7 inches) and the claws are of equal length as the body.

Phylogeny:  The Keeled Mud Lobster, Calocarides quinqueseriatus (Rathbun, 1902), is a member of the Axiidae Family of Mud Shrimp. The genus Calocarides is one of forty-eight genera in the Axiidae Family, and there are fourteen species in the Calocarides genus. They are also known as the Lobster Shrimp and in Mexico as Camaron de Madriguera and Langosta de Lodo Carinada. The genus name Calocarides is a bit of a mystery. It comes from the Greek words that mean something like “descendent of a beautiful shrimp” or “son of a good shrimp”. The species name quinqueseriatus is Latin and means “five rows”.

Morphology:  The Keeled Mud Lobster has an orange to brown colored body with pale eyes and legs. They have smooth carapace. The rostrum extends past the eyes, to the second peduncle of the antennules, and it is tipped with a spine. There is a keel-like structure (carina) that runs down the middle of the rostral plate. The two pairs of chelipeds are long and are unequal in length. The chelipeds are covered with sharp granules. Keeled Mud Lobsters reach a maximum of 14 cm (5.5 inches) in total body length.

Habitat and Distribution:  Keeled Mud Lobsters are a deeper water species, found over and within mud bottoms at depths between 293 m (960 feet) and 2,012 m (6,600 feet). This species has a wide distribution in the boreal, temperate, and tropical waters of the Eastern Pacific being found from the Sea of Okhotsk to central Mexico. The Keeled Mud Lobsters are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from coastal waters south of  Sinaloa.

Diet:  Keeled Mud Lobsters are depositional feeders and are thought to be detritivores and possibly scavengers.

Predators:  Keeled Mud Lobsters are preyed upon by crabs, fish (including skates), octopuses, and sea spiders.

Reproduction:  Keeled Mud Lobsters are gonochoric (male or female for life). Reproduction is sexual with an indirect transfer of sperm and external fertilization. This species is poorly studied and very little has been documented about its behavioral patterns.

Ecosystem Interactions:  The parasitic, commensal, and mutualistic relationships of Keeled Mud Lobsters has not been documented.

Human Interactions:  Keeled Mud Lobsters are commercially fished, usually as a bycatch of other targeted species. From a conservation perspective the Keeled Mud Lobster has not been formally evaluated.

Synonym:  Calastacus quinqueseriatus