Notes on habitat associations of marine Brachyura (Crustacea : Decapoda) from the Maltese Islands (Mediterranean)

Abstract

Despite the high ecological and commercial importance of marine crustacean fauna, basic ecological information on the group is lacking for the Maltese Islands (Malta). Recently, Mifsud (2017) published a checklist for marine Crustacea from the Maltese Islands that comprises 550 species. Mifsud’s (2017) work is the most complete checklist to date, and is based on a comprehensive review of the literature in which records of crustacean species, including brachyurans, are given. However, while checklists for the local marine crustacean fauna are available (see Mifsud 2017 and references therein), few studies that provide information on the ecology of the group have been published (e.g. Borg & Schembri 2000, Borg et al. 2006, Sciberras & Schembri 2008, Borg et al. 2010, Vasquez et al. 2012).