Nutritional requirements and starvation resistance in larvae of the brachyuran crabs Sesarma cinereum (Bosc) and S. reticulatum (Say)

• Published in: Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology Vol. 152; no. 2; pp. 271 - 284
• Main Authors: Staton, Joseph L., Sulkin, Stephen D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.1991
• Subjects: Crab larva; Marine; Nutrition; Sesarma; Sesarma cinereum; Sesarma reticulatum; Starvation resistance; Crab larva; Starvation resistance; Nutrition; Sesarma
• ISSN: 0022-0981; 1879-1697
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-0981(91)90219-M

Nutritional requirements during zoeal development of Sesarma cinereum (Bosc) and S. reticulatum (Say) were compared. Both species were raised in the laboratory from hatching to the megalopa on two diets: Artemia nauplii and the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis Muller. Although both species demonstrated a delay in development when fed rotifers, only S. cinereum showed greatly reduced survival. Continuously starved S. cinereum zoeae died during the first zoeal stage, while 17.5% of S. reticulatum larvae successfully molted to Z 2 under starvation conditions. We examined starvation resistance in the Z 1 of S. cinereum and the Z 1 and 3 (terminal zoea) of S. reticulatum by pount-of-no-return (PNR) and point-of-reserve saturation (PRS) experiments. The greater starvation resistance in S. reticulatum is correlated with significantly higher lipid content in their larvae as compared to S. cinereum larvae. The high ndegre of “nutritional flexibility” shown by developing S. reticulatum larvae may be related to other life history traits that characterize its abbreviated larval development.