Language: English
From the introduction:
"Studies on the infauna of Porto Novo waters (lat. 11°'29' N; long. 79°46' E] have been in progress since the inception of the Marine Ecological Station in the year 1956. With the growth of this station as an Advanced Centre in Marine Research, a more extensive knowledge of the local fauna has become imperative. Not much was known about the systematics of most of the animal groups and therefore special emphasis was given to this aspect, so as to get a comprehensive idea of community structure and population dynamics of this area. Hermit crabs, the most interesting group of organisms among the decapod crustaceans occur in large numbers in Vellar estuary and are also found abundantly in the trawl catches of local mechanised vessels. Except for a note on the occurrence of a fews pecies by Reddi (1935), practically no other information was available on these crabs from Porto Novo. An inventory made on its fauna, ecology and biology revealed the existence of 20 species (14 marine, 5 estuarine and 1 terrestrial) of hermit crabs under 7 genera which is presently reported with notes on sexual dimorphism, colour and distribution."