Abstract
Exogenous micromolar concentrations of 20-hydroxyecdysone were used to accelerate the molt cycle in the snapping shrimp, Alpheus heterochelis. Shrimps were exposed to the hormone by adding it to the seawater in which they were cultured. Five days of continuous exposure of an animal to a hormone concentration of 5 µgm/ml shortened the winter molt cycle length by 18 days, or 65%. Claw transformation, a commonly observed phenomenon in alpheid shrimps, also was accelerated at these concentrations, and postmolt animals exhibited appropriate modifications in external claw morphology and, in some cases, restructuring of the claw closer muscle according to schedules identical with those of animals having normal molt cycle lengths. These studies strengthen the hypothesis that the cellular events which underlie claw transformation are modulated by endogenous ecdysteroids.
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