70 
Fishery Bulletin 1 14(1) 
A — TB 1C 
Figure 1 
Photographs of golden king crab ( Lithodes aequispinus) embryos taken throughout development. Sections A-L 
show embryo stages 1-12, respectively; stage 0 is not provided. In sections B-G, photographs are of stained 
embryos. Light levels and colors in photographs have been adjusted to make the pertinent details clear. Key 
morphological features used to identify stages are labeled: blastopore (b), optical lobe (o), antennule (anl), an- 
tenna (an2), abdomen (ab), mandible (md), maxilliped (mp), carapace (ca), and chromatophores (c). In section 
G, the arrow indicates bifurcated abdomen. In panel J, the arrow indicates partially bifurcated yolk. In section 
K, the arrow indicates a fully bifurcated yolk. 
pened at a very slow rate (Figs. 3 and 4). This stage 
started at around day 175 and lasted 38 days. 
Stage 8 (eye formation) 
The beginning of this stage, which began on day 213, 
was marked by the eyes of the embryo becoming vis- 
ible as thin, pigmented crescents in unstained embryos 
(Fig. 1H). During this stage, the size of the eyes rapidly 
increased — the width (minimum diameter) increasing 
faster than the length (maximum diameter) — so that the 
shape gradually became a fuller crescent shape (Fig. 5). 
Although embryo growth was faster in this stage than in 
stage 7, it was still relatively slow (Fig. 3). The telson be- 
came distinct and developed setae in embryos as evident 
in embryos stained with Bouin’s solution. This stage 
