Reproductive biology of the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus bocourti (A. Milne-Edwards, 1870) (Decapoda: Axiidea: Callianassidae): A tropical species with a seasonal reproduction

Abstract

Based on the hypothesis that reproduction is a continuous process in tropical habitats, we analysed reproductive periodicity and egg production in the callianassid ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus bocourti, one of the most common species in mangrove systems along the Pacific coast of Central America. During one year (May 2008 to April 2009), individuals of L. bocourti (N=499) were collected nearshore Gulf of Nicoya, Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Observations were made on presence or absence of incubated embryos, and gonad activity of females was analysed as gonadosomatic index (GSI). Our results revealed that L. bocourti has a marked seasonal breeding period, which contradicts previous reports regarding coastal marine decapods from the tropics. Ovigerous females were found only from June to August, while high GSI values were obtained from March to July. The increase of GSI and appearance of ovigerous females were associated with a concomitant decrease of salinity, but not with temperature. We assume that reproduction of L. bocourti is adapted to local changes of environmental conditions, and that a decrease in salinity during rainy season may serve as a triggering factor for ovarian development. Compared to other ghost shrimps, L. bocourti produced on average more (2002±1365) and smaller (0.87±0.109 mm) eggs, which seems to suggest that this species does not have an abbreviated larval development as reported for other species of genus. The deviation from the generalization of constant reproduction in the tropics for shallow water marine invertebrates and its probable cause are adequately discussed.

Keywords:

• Reproduction pattern
• tropical habitats
• egg production
• Lepidophthalmus bocourti

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

We are especially grateful to the Cooperativa Nacional de Productores de Sal de Costa Rica (COONAPROSAL), who financially and logistically supported the project. The authors are thankful to Ana E. Robles, Ken Dirst and Alexander Varela (COONAPROSAL), and students Jeffry Ortiz and Yurlandy Gutiérrez (University of Costa Rica) for their help during field activities. A special thanks goes to Peter Dworschak (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria), who revised an earlier version of manuscript; his valuable comments and recommendation greatly improved the document. ISW is grateful that the present contribution was supported by the company Prime Catch Seafood GmbH (Germany) and Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ, Germany). Additional support for ISW came from the Universidad de Costa Rica (project number ED 2142). Finally, the constructive comments of two anonymous referees were greatly appreciated and helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark