Two new species of shrimp are found in the Gulf of California cave

The lagoon of Santa María-La Reforma in the Gulf of California is one of the most important areas for shrimp farming, but few know that this place has new crustaceans that live in the bay bottom. .

In addition to presenting two new species for science, Drs researchers. José Salgado-Barragán, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Manuel Ayón-Parente and Pilar Zamora-Tavares of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico cooperated to build knowledge of new small shrimp species living there. This research has just been published in ZooKeys magazine.

During a period of about two years - between 2013 and 2015, scientists conducted a series of surveys on crustaceans at the bottom of the lagoon of Bahía Santa María-La Reforma, located in the Gulf of Southwest Bay. California. After thoroughly examining the collected specimens, they recorded five shrimp species including three genera, living in mud, sand or mud dunes. Two of these species have been known before.

One of the new species was named Alpheus margaritae after Dr. Margarita Hermoso-Salazar, a Caridean shrimp expert, helped the authors identify the species. This new crustacean lives in the intertidal zone, where it hides in soft mud and gravel and rocks. So far, this shrimp has also appeared in the coastal lagoon of Bahía Santa María-La Reforma, Sinaloa, Mexico. Some of its characteristic features include creamy white with thin olive green and light brown spots.

The second new species, Leptalpheus melendezensis, is believed to live in the fine sand of the beach. It is named after the island of Melendez - where only the species is identified and is not like the other seven members of its genus (Leptalpheus).