Ovary development in the deep-sea shrimp Acanthephyra eximia Smith, 1884 in Sardinian waters

Abstract

We report data regarding the gonad development in females of Acanthephyra eximia Smith, 1884. Specimens were caught during\ud experimental surveys carried out in Sardinian waters between 500 and 1880 m. We employed for our analysis of the ovary development\ud both macroscopic observation and histologic analysis. According to the macroscopic observations, carried out on 491 specimens, six\ud developmental stages of the ovaries were identified. These were validated by histologic analysis, performed on a sample of 10 specimens\ud per stage, that allow us to describe different cell types. A table whith both macroscopic and histologic stages of the female gonad of A.\ud eximia are briefly summarized

Distribution of Acanthephyra brevicarinata Hanamura, 1984 and A. brevirostris Smith, 1885 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Acanthephyridae), in Pacific Mexico

“…Pequegnat & Wicksten (2006) considered A. eximia and A. armata A. Milne-Edwards, 1881, as primary benthic species, taken in benthic sampling gear, not midwater trawls, thus following the opinion of Chace (1986) in this respect. In their study of the ovary development of Acanthephyra eximia, Follesa et al (2013) also considered this species as nektobenthic. Gates et al (2012) reported the presence of A. eximia in the stomach contain of demersal fishes and classified the shrimp as "suprabenthic".…”

“…With about 3438 species (De Grave & Fransen, 2011), the Infraorder Caridea constitutes one of the most specious groups of decapod crustaceans. It contains benthic and pelagic species, some of which are known to present nektobenthic behaviour (Pequegnat & Wicksten, 2006;Follesa et al, 2013). Some families are exclusively benthic (e.g., Palaemonidae, Glyphocrangonidae), others are almost exclusively pelagic (e.g., Oplophoridae, Pasiphaeidae), and a few include species inhabiting both realms (e.g., Pandalidae) (Chace, 1986;Hendrickx & Wicksten, 1989;Poore, 2004;Wicksten, 2012).…”