COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE LARVAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PENAEID SHRIMPS,PENAEUS CHINENSIS,P.MERGUIENSIS AND P.PENICILLATUS

The morphology of larval and 1st postlarval stages of Penaeus penicillatus are described.Results from comparative studies on larval development of P.penicillatus,P.merguiensis and P.chinensis are as fol-lows: These three species could not be identified during their naupliar stages. In the 1st protozoea,the antennule L1/L2 value is 1.7—2.0 in P.merguiensis,but lessthan 1.7 in P.chinensis and P.penicillatus;in the 2nd protozoea,the supra-orbital spine in P.chinensis isnot bifurcated,while those of P.merguiensis and P.penicillatus are bifurcated;in the 3rd protozoea,thereis a minute(or no)dorso-median spine on the posterior margin of the 1st and 2nd abdominal somite in P.chinensis,but they are prominent in P.merguiensis and P.penicillatus.In the mysis and 1st postlarvalstages,P.chinensis differs from P.merguiensis and P.penicillatus in having 9(8 in the other 2 species)longsetae on the exopod of pereopods 1—3;additionally,one dorsal tooth appears on the rostrum of P.chinensis in the 2nd mysis and that o

COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE LARVAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PENAEID SHRIMPS, PENAEUS CHINENSIS,P. MERGUIENSIS AND P. PENICILLATUS