Complete Larval Rearing of the Japanese Spiny Lobster Panulirus japonicus.

Abstract

complete larval rearing was achieved for the Japanese spiny lobster Panulirus japonicus and the duration of each larval stage (phyllosoma and puerulus), descriptions before and after metamorphosis, and some other biological features are reported. Newly hatched phyllosoma larvae were kept in glass bowls (1.4 l in volume), and were fed with Artemia nauplii, grown Artemia , and small pieces of gonads of the mussel Mytilus edulis according to the growth of the larvae. Sea water was exchanged daily, and kept at 24-26 degree C. One individual among the larvae metamorphosed into a puerulus after the 28th molt on 307th day after hatching. Body length of the phyllosoma before metamorphosis was 30.3 mm and that of the puerulus was 17.3 mm respectively. The puerulus molted into a juvenile lobster (17.9 mm in body length) at 13 days after the metamorphosis, and repeated several molts thereafter.