Relative Growth of Penaeid Postlarvae as a Useful Tool for Identification

Abstract

Postlarvae of penaeid prawns were collected in coastal waters. It was revealed that the relationship between the lengths of carapace and body parts such as the 6th abdominal somite or 3rd pereiopod was linear, and the difference in that relationship between species was supposed to be applicable for the identification of postlarvae. From this viewpoint, examinations and rearing experiments on wild postlarvae were carried out. It was revealed that the relative growth of carpus of the 3rd pereopod facilitated the identification of wild postlarvae, especially those with close similarities in morphology. The introduction of this new criterion is concluded to be useful for distinguishing species.