Palaeostracha Xiphosura: India

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This is an extract from ANIMAL RESOURCES OF INDIA: Protozoa to Mammalia State of the Art. Zoological Survey of India, 1991. By Professor Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri Director, Zoological Survey of India and his team of devoted scientists. The said book is an enlarged, updated version of The State of Art Report: Zoology Edited by Dr. T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Director, Zoological Survey of India in 1980.

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Palaeostracha Xiphosura

Introduction

This class is composed almost entirely of extinct forms. The Xiphosura is only living representative, with only three genera, viz. Limulus. Carcinoscorpius and Tachypleus.

The members of this order are popularly known as 'king-crabs' or 'horseshoe-crabs' The king¬crabs are marine; they are found in shallow water from two to six fathoms deep on sandy and muddy shores and they burrow a short distance in the sand or mud and feed chiefly on worms. Two somewhat variable species of king-crabs, Tachypleus gigas (MOller) and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda (Latreille) are common in Indian waters; but little information is available as regards their habits, which seem to differ considerably from those of the Japanese and American forms. It is observed that Tachypleus gigas is essentially a marine species, occurring on sandy and muddy bottoms from the tide-line to a depth of 20 fathoms and C. rotundicauda is mainly, if not entirely, estuarine. It ascends the river Hooghly at least as far as Calcutta from the open sea, and can l~ve in water that is practically fresh. On the coast of Bengal T. gigas breeds at the end of the winter season, i.e., in March. The eggs, which are not very numerous, have a green colour and measure about 3 mm in diameter, are carried on the ventral surface of the abdominal appendages, to which they adhere tightly.

The most familiar of the fossil representatives of the Palaeostracha are the Trilobites.