Abstract
Currently there are 21 shrimp species in the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea which are considered to belong to the superfamily Oplophoroidea, but the larval development is unknown for most of them. The complete larval development of Systellaspis debilis (Milne-Edwards, 1881), here described and illustrated, is the first one to have been successfully reared in the laboratory, consisting of four zoeal and one decapodid stages. The zoeae were found to be fully lecithotrophic, which together with the females' lower fecundity, are probably evolutionary consequences of the species mesopelagic habitat.
Keywords:
Decapoda; Decapodid; Full lecithotrophy; Laboratory reared; Mesopelagic shrimps; Morphology; Zoeal stages.
© 2019 Bartilotti and Dos Santos.
Grants and funding
Cátia Bartilotti was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/63888/2009, as well as by postdoctoral fellowships in the projects “BIOMETORE—Biodiversity in seamounts: the Madeira-Tore and Great Meteor” (
http://www.biometore.pt/) funded by PT02 program (EEA Grants), and “PLANTROF- Dinâmica do plâncton e transferência trófica: Biodiversidade e ecologia do zooplâncton de Portugal” funded by Mar 2020—Programa Operacional Mar 2020 Portaria N.° 118/2016. The ovigerous females of
Systellaspis debilis were collected in two different research surveys financed by the projects MedEx (MARIN-ERA/MAR/0002/2008; CTM2008-04036-E/MAR; EC FP6 ERA-NET Programme), and Nephrops Survey Offshore Portugal (PNAB-DCR-Data Collection Regulation). The study contributes to EMODNET EASME/EMFF/2016/1.3.1.2 – Lot 5/SI2.750022 Biology project. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.