Description of the First Zoëal stage of Geograpsus Crinipes (Dana, 1851) (Decapoda: Brachyura: Grapsidae) from the Red Sea

Ahmed E Al-Haj,Ali M Al-Aidaroos

doi:10.5733/afin.055.0104

Abstract

Ovigerous females of the species Geograpsus crinipes (Dana, 1851) were collected from the Rabigh coast of the Red Sea. The morphology of the first zoeal stage is illustrated and described in detail from laboratory-hatched material. The characteristic features of this stage are compared with those of the closely related first zoeal stage larva of G. lividus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) from the Pacific coast of Panama, the Gulf of Mexico and Jamaica. Morphological differences with respect to the larvae of G. lividus populations are discussed.

Highlights

The study of crustacean systematics and phylogeny has from the very earliest times involved the recording of larval characters; and details of larval morphology reveal phylogenetic relationships among different brachyurans (Martin & Davis 2001)
Data on larval development and growth are poor for some brachyuran groups, and most larval descriptions deal only with the first zoëal stages because of the difficulties encountered in appropriately feeding the small late larval stages (Ingle 1987; Cuesta & Rodríguez 2000)
Only the first zoëal stage had been described for species in the family Grapsidae because of the difficulties in culturing larvae using techniques commonly employed in the laboratory for the later larval stages of various species of Brachyura (Guerao et al 1999)

Summary

Introduction

The study of crustacean systematics and phylogeny has from the very earliest times involved the recording of larval characters; and details of larval morphology reveal phylogenetic relationships among different brachyurans (Martin & Davis 2001). The genus Geograpsus Stimpson, 1858, includes five species (Ng et al 2008) and only one species, Geograpsus crinipes (Dana, 1851), is known from the Red Sea (Holthuis 1977). This species is widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific regions (Sakai 1976). There are three descriptions of the larval stages of a species of Geograpsus, namely G. lividus Details of the complete larval development of G. lividus from Jamaican waters were published by Cuesta et al (2011)

Methods

Results

Conclusion