Data on the family Pandalidae around the Canary Islands, with first record of Plesionika antigai (Caridea)

Of the 20 pandalid shrimps species and subspecies reported for the Eastern Central Atlantic (26-36 degrees N), 16 were found in one or more Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands) (14-40 degrees N), and 11 of them were recorded to date in the Canary Island waters (27 degrees 30'-29 degrees 30' N): Bitias stocki Fransen, 1990; Heterocarpus ensifer ensifer A. Milne-Edwards, 1881; Heterocarpus grimaldii A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1900; Heterocarpus laevigatus Bate, 1888; Plesionika edwardsii (Brandt, 1851); Plesionika ensis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1881); Plesionika holthuisi Crosnier & Forest, 1968; Plesionika martia martia (A. Milne-Edwards, 1883); Plesionika narval (J.C. Fabricius, 1787); Plesionika williamsi Forest, 1964; and Stylopandalus richardi Coutiere, 1905. In the present work, Plesionika antigai Zariquiey Alvarez, 1955 is recorded for the first time from the Canary Islands. As a result of many fishing surveys around the Canary Islands at 27-1550 m depth between 1985 and 1998, information on bathymetric distribution, habitat, size and biology of the 12 Canarian pandalid species is given. The geomorphologic, geographic and oceanographic characteristics of the Canary Islands marine ecosystems could explain the great diversity in the biogeographic patterns of the pandalid species inhabiting this area. The distribution patterns found were: Macaronesian (1 spec.), Atlanto-Mediterranean (1 spec.), Eastern Atlantic warm-temperate (1 spec.), amphi-Atlantic warm (2 spec.), amphi-Atlantic warm-temperate (1 spec.), pantropical (5 spec.), and cosmopolitan (1 spec.).