Vol. 61, 2022

(update: 2022.12.14)

Finding the Missing Puzzle Piece of the Nisto Stage in the Larval Cycle of the Slipper Lobster Scyllarides squammosus: A Molecular and Morphological Approach

²

^3,*

¹School of Applied Biological Science, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-4-4, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8528, Japan. E-mail: chihonman67@gmail.com (Hidaka)
²Institute of Marine Biology and Centre of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 202301, Taiwan. E-mail: chyang@mail.ntou.edu.tw (Yang)
³Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-4-4, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8528, Japan. *Correspondence: E-mail: kaoriw@hiroshima-u.ac.jp (Wakabayashi)

Received 18 June 2021 / Accepted 2 September 2022
Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan

Slipper and spiny lobsters are crustaceans that are in high demand and possess great commercial potential as valuable foods. The early life stages are important to understand the distribution and resource ecology of those lobsters. However, much less information is available about slipper lobsters than spiny lobsters. Biological information concerning the transition stage from the planktonic to the benthic phase, the so-called nisto stage, is limited probably due to its short duration. An individual scyllarid nisto was discovered while scuba diving off Chichijima Island. DNA analyses using mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) genes confirmed this specimen to be Scyllarides squammosus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837). Detailed morphological observations of this specimen and its comparison with previous reports on Scyllarides nistos suggest that the diagnostic character of S. squammosus nisto is the pleura of the second to fifth pleonites possessing prominent teeth entirely on the lateral margin. Other morphological characteristics are the carapace with the widest distance in the middle and the second to fifth pleonites bearing two tubercles on each side. This report describes the identification of the first worldwide record of a Scyllarides nisto, confirmed by molecular barcoding.

Key words: Decapoda, Taxonomy, Larva, Settlement, DNA barcoding.

Citation: Hidaka C, Yang CH, Wakabayashi K. 2022. Finding the missing puzzle piece of the nisto stage in the larval cycle of the slipper lobster Scyllarides squammosus: a molecular and morphological approach. Zool Stud 61:73. doi:10.6620/ZS.2022.61-73.

Supplementary materials: Table S1