Feeding appendages differentiation in early hatchlings of the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868).

HERNÁN J. SACRISTÁN; LAURA S. LÓPEZ GRECO; MARIA LUCIA NEGREIROS-FRANSOZO.

Congreso; TCS-ALCARCINUS Summer Meeting, Costa Rica 2013; 2013

The Crustacean Society

ver página del CD de resúmenes nro 161The early juvenile life period of C. quadricarinatus is characterized as a non feeding phase, whichremains attached to the female up to the third post-embryonic stages. The brood care by femalesmay protect these tiny juveniles from predation; and the non-feeding behavior probably facilitatesthis care until they can risk searching for food. Thus, its fundamental to know if they have any mouth morphological difficulty; and when will the best stage to take them off the mother for successful growth. In this sense, we analyzed the first three juvenile stages of C. quadricarinatus with emphasis on their mouth morphology. Juvenile I present rudimentary mandibles; maxillule and maxilla with some teeth (t), serrate setae (se) and plumose setae (pl); the first maxilliped is smooth with pl and cuspidate setae (cp); the second maxilliped is rudimentary with cp; the third maxilliped is rudimentary and present some t and simple setae (ss). Juvenile II present mandiblse with differentiated molar and incisive processes; maxillule similar to juvenile I; maxilla with more t, pl and ss than juvenile I; the first maxilliped is similar to the previous stage; the second maxilliped is present ss and the third maxilliped with t, se and ss. Juvenile III present well developed mandibles; maxillule, maxilla, first maxilliped, second maxilliped, third maxilliped and all pereiopods are similar to juvenile II, but more setose. Considering all the mouth parts are well developed at the third stage, including several setae  of different types, this should be the preferred to take the juveniles off females for further growth.MINCYT-CAPES BR/11/21. UBACYT 2011-2014 (20020100100003)