Abstract
The planktonic shrimp, Lucifer faxoni , lives to an age of ∼30–40 days off the Texas coast. In the laboratory, the shrimp took 28.9 and 18.9 days to reach sexual maturity at 22 and 30°C respectively. Oviposition was observed at night between 20.00 and 23.00. Females attach eggs to the 3rd pereiopods and brood them until the nauplii emerge. Multiple broods are produced, giving a maximal lifetime fecundity of >140 eggs per female. In addition, females may also be able to synchronize the time of their hatching to occur at night, perhaps to further reduce mortality due to predation and cannibalism. A rapid turnover of generations, each with a short adult lifespan, sequential spawnings, and protection of eggs until hatching, characterizes the life strategy of this small shrimp. Adult L.faxoni are carnivorous. However, their feeding appendages do not exclude the possibility of omnivory. The maximal, dry-weight-based, specific ingestion rate was ∼0.7 day −1 . Feeding activity was not affected by either time of day or light regime.
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