Museum AND ArT NOTES YE

Altogether five species of shrimps are of commercial value in British Columbia,
and these all belong to the family Pandalidae. Decapod Crustacea are primarily
divided into Natantia (swimming forms) and Reptantia (creeping forms). As the
Pandalidae, in common with all Crustacea usually known as “shrimps,” have well-
developed pleopods and swim freely, they are placed in the sub-order Natantia. An
absence of claws on the third pair of pereiopods, and the fact that the pleura of the
second abdominal segment overlap those of the first, places this family in the tribe
Carides. Finally an absence of exopodites or outer rami on all pereiopods and of
any visible claws on either of the first pair of perciopods, together with the slenderness
of both the first two pairs of pereiopods, distinguish the family Pandalidae.

The following keys and descriptions of commercially valuable Pandalids are
partly adapted from Rathbun’s work (1904), “The Decapod Crustaceans of the
Northwest Coast of North America,” and Schmitt’s “The Marine Decapod Crustacea
Ofte Calutornia C1921):

Family Pandalidae
I. Antennules not longer than the carapace. No laminate expansions on the merus
of the third maxilliped and the ischium of the first leg.
Pandalus

II. Antennules twice the length of the carapace, merus of third maxilliped and
ischium of first leg with longitudinally developed laminate expansions fringed with
long hairs.

Pandalopsis
Genus Pandalus

I. Third segment of abdomen in part compressed and carinated or keel shaped,

the carina armed with a well-defined spine in front of the posterior margin.

borealis

II. Third segment of abdomen not compressed and carinated, and without a
median lobe or spine in front of posterior margin.

A. Dorsal spines not reaching behind middle of carapace. Sixth abdominal

segment less than twice as long as wide.
platyceros

B. Dorsal spines extending behind middle of carapace.
a. Dorsal spines more than 15 (17-21).
hypsinotus
b. Dorsal spines less than 15. Rostrum less than one and a half times as
long as carapace. Antennal scale of moderate width, the terminal half
of the blade not narrower than the adjacent thickened portion.
danae
Pandalus danae. Stimpson.

Plate li Bic. 2:

This is still the most common form of shrimp taken near Vancouver. Ordinarily
it is known as the “coon-stripe” shrimp because of the peculiar striping of red or
brown and white which is especially evident in the younger individuals. It is a rather
stout species with a finely pitted surface and 10 to 12 dorsal spines. The apex of the