OCCURRENCE OF DEEP-SEA SHRIMP Heterocarpus inopinatus TAVARES, 1999 (CRUSTACEA: DECAPODA: CARIDEA) IN POTIGUAR BASIN, NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Heterocarpus inopinatus is a member of the family Pandalidae. It is an endemic species from Brazilian’ waters which is recorded for states of Bahia, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. In this paper, we report the occurrence of this species from extreme northeast of Brazil in Potiguar Basin. The Potiguar Basin is situated in the extreme northeast of Brazil, between the states of Ceara (CE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN) (03/05° S; 38/35° W). Samplings were conducted as part of the project: "Avaliacao da Biota Bentonica e Planctonica da Bacia Potiguar e Ceara (Bpot)” sponsored by “Petroleo Brasileiro S/A (Petrobras)”. In the campaign were analyzed 19 individuals, being 10 females, 8 males and 1 juvenile, between the depths of 150–982 m. Therefore, this study is increasing its geographic distribution and thus much extending its bathymetric distribution of the species to shallower depth for the Northeast region of Brazil, filling gaps in the South Atlantic distribution. Keywords: Geographic distribution, Pandalidae, continental slope, new record