The aim of this study was to describe the behavior of newly-hatched juveniles and maternal care in Aegla schmitti. The experiment was conducted using seven ovigerous females with eggs at different stages of embryonic development and 12 eggs that had been placed in a separate aquarium. We observed asynchronous hatching in all females, with a mean of 66 hatched juveniles per female. The females also exhibited extended maternal care, allowing the juveniles to remain inside their abdominal chamber or on other parts of their body in the first few days after hatching. The juveniles that hatched in a separate aquarium fed on the remaining eggs, despite food being available. The incubation period and number of hatched eggs are highly variable between species with direct development, with no clear pattern being evident. However, asynchrony in hatching time is apparently common among freshwater anomurans, most likely due to the environmental conditions in which they live. Parental care is an important trait for crustaceans that live in osmotically unfavorable environments, such as freshwater, increasing the survival rate of juveniles.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
334 Leonard St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.