Collected during the Project “Research on Deep-sea Fauna and Pollutants off Pacifi c Coast of Northern Japan”

Abstract: A taxonomic report on deep-water dendrobranchiate and caridean shrimps and polychelid lobsters from northern Japan, mainly from northeastern Honshu (Aomori Prefecture to Ibaraki Prefecture), is present-ed. The collection consists of 64 species, belonging to 12 families. Two new species, Metacrangon cornuta sp. nov. (Caridea: Crangonidae) and Lebbeus similior sp. nov. (Caridea: Hippolytidae), are described and illus-trated. Furthermore, the crangonid genus Neocrangon Zarenkov is rediagnosed and briefl y reviewed. The va-lidity of the hippolytid, Spirontocaris brevidigitata Kobjakova, is confi rmed, and a brief review on this species is given. A detailed description accompanied with fi gures is presented for the little known hippolytid Eualus townsendi (Rathbun). Zoogeographically, the benthic fauna is divided into four major categories: those species having a widespread distribution in the northern part of the North Pacifi c, sometimes extending to the north-west coast of North America (16 species); those restricted to cold waters in East Asia (15 species); those re-stricted to temperate waters in East Asia, including Japanese Archipelago endemics (six species); and those widely distributed in the tropical Indo-West Pacifi c (12 species). The meso- and bathypelagic fauna is com-posed of two major groups: species widely distributed in the tropics of the Indo-Pacifi c and/or Atlantic Ocean (15 species); and species distributed in cold waters of the North Pacifi c Ocean (four species)