FISHERY BULLETIN VOL 77. NO 1 



Figure 21. — SquiUa empusa. stage IX, ventral view. 



tempted to hatch and rear larvae either to link 

 them with an adult or to describe the entire larval 

 development have been unsuccessful at rearing 

 larvae past the first pelagic stage because the lar- 

 vae could not be induced to feed (Manning and 

 Provenzano 1963). Pyne ( 1972) was unable to rear 

 Pterygosquilla arinata schizodontia eggs past the 

 first pelagic stage, but did hold stages I to VII 

 larvae taken from the plankton for periods as long 

 as 10 to 16 days wherein the larvae passed through 

 at least one ecdysis. Pyne also found it possible to 

 keep later stage larvae for very much longer 

 periods of up to 165 days during which time they 

 molted as many as six times. Pyne reared his lar- 

 vae in mass culture using 4-in (10.2-cm) finger 



bowls. Alikunhi ( 1975) reared planktonic larvae of 

 Oratosquilla nepa in aquaria through metamor- 

 phosis until they reached adulthood, bred, and 

 produced eggs. 



The manner in which all .species of Squillidae 

 develop is similar. All Squillidae hatch as 

 pseudozeae with four pairs of pleopods and develop 

 into the alima form. Some, if not all, pass through 

 two propelagic stages before the first truly 

 planktonic stage. The alima is characterized by a 

 telson with four or more intermediate denticles, 

 the distance between the submedian spines in 

 later stages being not larger than that between 

 the intermediate and submedian spines, the pro- 

 podus of the second maxilliped bearing three basal 

 spines, the antennular somite generally having a 

 median spine, the posterolateral spine of the 

 carapace having a basal accessory spine, the eye- 

 stalks long, and the exopod of the uropod being 

 longer than the endopod (Gurney 1942, 1946). 

 Alikunhi (1952) added that alima larvae possess 

 carapaces armed with a varying number of 

 spinules on the lateral margins, the sixth abdomi- 

 nal somite usually being equipped with a pair of 

 submedian dorsal spines, and in advanced larvae, 

 the posterolateral angles of the abdominal somites 

 ending in acute or subacute spines. 



Alikunhi (1952) noted that between allied 

 species, the specific differences are often "trivial" 

 but remarkably constant. He determined that 

 some features, such as the size of the final pelagic 

 stage, the shape and spinulation of the carapace, 

 telson, and uropods.and the presence or absence of 

 teeth other than the terminal on the dactylus of 

 the second maxilliped, hardly show any variation 

 within a species. These characters may be used for 

 specific determinations but are presently of little 

 aid in defining generic alliances for three reasons. 



First, relatively few stomatopods have been as- 

 sociated definitely with the adult of the species. 



Second, most of these have had described only 

 one larval .stage of the entire development. Only 

 19 of the Squillidae have been definitely connected 

 with their larval forms. Provenzano and Manning 

 (1978) listed 17 species of identified stomatopod 

 larvae, but O. masnavensis was omitted and S. 

 empusa has now been added to the list. Of the 19 

 species, only 2. P. arinata schizodentia andS. em- 

 pusa, have been reared in the laboratory through 

 essentially their entire pelagic development. Two 

 additional species have been hatched from eggs 

 obtained from a known adult and the first pelagic 

 stage described, i.e., Chirida vhoprat by Gurney 



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