Study of Morphology and Density of Diogenes sp. (Anomura: Diogenidae) in Bahmanshir estuary (NW Persian Gulf)

Taxonomic studies on the Anomura larvae of the Persian Gulf are relatively few. This research has been done on larval stage of Diogenes sp. (Anomura: Diogenidae)on coastal waters of Bahmanshir River. Anomura is a group of decapodcrustaceans, including hermit crabsthat are cosmopolitan and could be found from coastal waters to 5000 m in depth. The larval stages differ among families of Anomura. Anomura larvalsamples collected by plankton net (mesh size of 300 µm) from seven stations in February 2011 to October 2012. Planktonic larval were sampled from the Bahmanshir River in north of the Persian Gulf. The larval stages illustrated and described in detail for Diogenes sp. Finally Diogenes sp. were identified and their schematic figures were made using Camera Lucida. Maximum value of the average abundance of larvae (12.3±3.4 ind.m3) was recorded in May. Also positive relationship betweensalinity with frequency of Diogenes sp. were found significantly using spearman correlation coefficients (P