Brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) in the Suez Canal, Egypt, and their associated epifauna

The Suez Canal is the main connecting link between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. On its route from the Red Sea in the south to the Mediterranean in the north, it crosses different lakes which represent different habitats, and in some cases, hinder the migration of the faunal community from one sea to the other. Ten Brachyuran species belonging to ten genera and eight families were recorded in the canal water, all of Indo-Pacific origin. Eight of these species have been introduced into the Mediterranean, while four are a new geographical record for the Suez Canal. The two families of Leucosiidae, and Portunidae were represented by two species each, while the other six families of Euryplacidae, Grapsidae, Galenidae, Pisidae, Majidae and Xanthidae each included one species. The integuments of the pisid Hyastenus hilgendorfi and the majid Schizophrys aspera from the Suez Canal were densely covered with an assortment of animal materials, both living and dead. The two spider crabs use their mask primarily for camouflage and are well adapted as immigrant species to the canal ecosystem.   Key words: Brachyura, Suez Canal, Egypt.