Nutritional vulnerability in zoeal stages of the yellowline arrow crab Stenorhynchus seticornis (Brachyura: Majoidea)

BARROS-ALVES S; LOPEZ, LAURA SUSANA; ALVES D; NEGREIROS-FRANSOZO ML; ANTUNES M

MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH

CSIRO PUBLISHING

Lugar: Collingwood; Año: 2018

1323-1650

Knowledge of the critical points in larval stages is essential to evaluate the physiological state of the larvae intheir natural environment. This study investigated the nutritional vulnerability index (NVI) of the first (ZI) and second(ZII) zoeal stages of Stenorhynchus seticornis. Zoeae were assigned to two experiments: (1) point of no return (PNR),consisting of treatments with increasing days of starvation and subsequent days of feeding; and (2) point of reservesaturation (PRS), consisting of treatments with increasing days of feeding and subsequent days of starvation. There weretwo control groups: continuous starvation (CS) and continuous feeding (CF). Mortality was used to estimate the time when50% of initially starved larvae (PNR50) lost the ability to moult to the next stage and when 50% of initially fed larvae(PRS50) were capable of moulting to the next stage. The mean (s.d.) development time of ZI and ZII under CF was4.4 1.2 and 5.1 1.8 days respectively. Mortality in the CF groups was 30 and 52% for ZI and ZII respectively. For ZI,PNR50 and PRS50 were 1.0 0.0 and 2.1 1.0 days respectively. The estimated NVI for ZI was 2.2, which indicates thatS. seticornis depends on exogenous food and is considered planktotrophic during the first larval stage