Larval development — Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers)

Complete larval history of Metapenaeus dobsoni was studied by rearing them in the laboratory. At the rearing temperature of 25.5°C to 26.8°C the viable eggs took 16-17 hours to hatch; the duration of the nauplius stage was 40-56 hours; protozoea took 5-7 days to reach the mysis stage and the mysis transformed into postlarva I after 6-9 days. Thus it took U-20 days for the eggs to develop through the various larval stages into postlarva I. The larvae pass through 6 nauplius substages., 3 protozoea sub- stages and 5 mysis substages before reaching the postlarva! stage. There may be one or two inter mediate substages between the last mysis substage and postlarva I. All the larval stages are described and illustrated, and compared with the earlier larval descriptions of the species