Studies on the larval development of the commerically important penaeid prawns of India

With the increased commercial importance of penaeid prawns, studies on the larval development of this group have received much attention during the last two decades. Although a number of penaeid prawns contribute to the prawn fishery of India, details of larval development of only a single species, Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers) are known. In the present paper, the egg, five nauplial, three protozoeal, three mysis and ten postlarval substages of Parapenaeopsis stylifera (H. Milne-Edwards;; three mysis and nine postlarval substages of Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius); three mysis substages of M.affinis (H. Milne-Edwards); five nauplial, three protozoeal, three mysis and seven postlarval substages of M. dobsoni (Miers); three mysis and seven postlarval substages of Penaeus indicus H. Milne-Edwards have been described and figured. While the larval development of these species generally follows similar pattern with many common features, comparison of different stages reveals that characters such as length of rostrum, presence or absence of supraorbital spine on carapace, setation of antenna, nature of antennal scales, spination of abdominal segments as well as telson and pigmentation show specific differences and help in the identification of the larvae of these larval forms Based on these characters a key for the identification of the larvae of the different species studied has been prepared. The variations recorded in the number of substages of the larval forms have been discussed