Growth marks in eyestalks of Portunus trituberculatus:A development of technique and evidence of molting

The analysis of growth bands in the eyestalk has been increasingly used for estimating crustacean ageing and molting. In this study, we developed an effective method to process and observe the eyestalk microstructure of the swimming crab(Portunus trituberculatus). We found that dark pigmentation as a result of boiling has an influence on the observation of the eyestalk microstructure. Choosing an unboiled eyestalk, this study compared the cross section and longitudinal section, and concluded that the cross section is suitable for the observation of growth increments with 6.1% CV(coefficient of variation), and growth bands are suitable for the observation of the longitudinal section with 5.4% CV. The width of growth increments near the edge of the endocuticle is small, and the width of growth increments of the middle part of the endocuticle is large. Relationship of number of growth bands to molting time was fitted to a linear function with the slope not significantly different from 1, indicating that growth bands are formed associated with molting. Periodicity of growth increment formation was calculated as 3.7 d, however was not verified. Our results provide a new improved technique for identification of crustacean molting and growth.