Effect of color ground and shelters presence on female pigmentation in Neocaridina davidi (Caridea, Atyidae)

LÓPEZ GRECO, LAURA SUSANA; TOMAS, ANA LAURA; SGANGA, DANIELA ELIANA

Barcelona

Congreso; The Crustacean Society Mid-Year Meeting; 2017

Neocaridina davidi is very popular as ornamental species because females have a striking reddish coloration that could be modeled by culture conditions. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of background substrate color and the presence of shelters on female pigmentation. In the first assay three colors of ornamental gravels (white, red and black) were evaluated. In the second assay two factors were evaluated together: white background and white shelters (WS), white background and no shelters (WWS), black background and black shelters (BS), and black background with no shelters (BWS). Recently hatched juveniles were exposed to the treatments and at the end of both experiments, females were photographed for color measurement with Image Pro-Plus® software, and then sacrificed for astaxanthin quantification. Females exposed to the black substrate presented a higher relative colored area of carapace (p