Adaptation of Landlocked Atyid Shrimp Larvae

Facultative lecithotrophic larvae of landlocked Paratya improvisa could survive and develop into the juvenile stage under poor feeding conditions that are not suitable for the survival and development of planktotrophic larvae of amphidromous Paratya compressa. The present study thus provides empirical data that suggest that limited food conditions are a major selective force influencing landlocked life history traits with few and large eggs (i.e., larvae). Our results and observations further highlight strategies that landlocked P. improvisa larvae use to stay in or near parental habitats—i.e., fast development and settlement behaviour beginning with the early zoeal stage.

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