Amphidromy in shrimps: a life cycle between rivers and the sea

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Amphidromy is a diadromous life history pattern, common in tropical and subtropical freshwater caridean shrimps, in which adults live, breed and spawn small-sized embryos in freshwater but have extended larval development (ELD) in marine waters. Most completely freshwater species spawn large embryos with either direct or abbreviated larval development (ALD). An important benefit of amphidromy is dispersal among river systems via marine larvae, which increases their access to alternative habitats. Thus, amphidromous species have much broader geographic distributions than closely related completely freshwater ones with ALD. ALD and freshwater ELD species appear to have evolved from amphidromous species with marine ancestors. Delivery of larvae to the sea in many amphidromous species is accomplished by upstream hatching and river drift of larvae to the sea. In other species, the females themselves apparently migrate down to marine waters to spawn. After development, the postlarvae must find a river mouth and migrate upstream to the adult habitat. Migrations occur at night, with juveniles swimming or crawling along the river or stream bank. Larvae are released during the wet or flood season of the year, while juvenile migrations take place during the dry or low-flow season. Both larval downstream and juvenile upstream movements are disrupted by human impacts such as dams and other forms of river control. Although much progress has been made in understanding the evolution and ecology of amphidromy, research is still needed on all aspects of shrimp amphidromy, especially in Latin America with its diverse freshwater shrimp fauna. Keywords: Caridea, diadromy, larvae, juveniles, migration, streams, rivers.Anfidromía en camarones: un ciclo de vida entre los ríos y el mar RESUMEN. La anfidromía es un ciclo de vida común en camarones tropicales y subtropicales de agua dulce, en que los adultos viven, se aparean y desovan embriones pequeños en agua dulce, pero tienen un extenso desarrollo larval (DLE) en aguas marinas. Especies con embriones grandes tienen un desarrollo larval abreviado o directo (DLA), y pasan toda su vida en agua dulce. Un beneficio importante de la anfidromía es la dispersión en los ríos por medio de larvas marinas. Por eso, las especies anfidrómicas tienen distribuciones geográficas más amplias que las especies de agua dulce sin larvas marinas. Al parecer, las especies con DLA han evolucionado de especies anfidrómicas con antepasados marinos. La llegada de larvas al mar en algunas especies anfidrómicas ocurre por la deriva de larvas por la corriente del río. En otras especies, las hembras migran río abajo para liberar sus larvas en agua salada. Después del desarrollo larval en el mar, las postlarvas tienen que buscar una desembocadura de un río y luego, migrar río arriba al hábitat de los adultos. Las migraciones ocurren durante la noche, con los juveniles nadando o siendo transportados por la corriente del río. La eclosión de las larvas ocurre durante la temporada de lluvia (flujo alto), pero ...

Growth and reproductive biology of the amphidromous shrimp Palaemon pandaliformis (Decapoda: Caridea) in a Neotropical river from northeastern Brazil

“…These authors observed ovigerous females carrying egg at all stages in all the study sites during the reproductive season with no records of reproductive females disappearing far from the coast, which means there was no reproductive migration towards estuaries to hatch larvae. Other evidence relies on the presence of the ovigerous females during high water or rainy months in the river inhabited by adults, which is a reverse pattern from the pattern described by Bauer (2013).…”

“…These recruits can be captured during their migration to colonize or re-colonize riverine habitats. Commonly, the low speed of the water flow in dry seasons benefits the presence of recruits due to low amount of energy required to move upstream associated to few potential obstacles for re-colonization (e.g., reduced downstream drift) (Bauer 2004(Bauer , 2013. There were no recruitment data for P. pandaliformis in other locations, which prevents any comparisons.…”

“…observ.). As the upstream migration of juveniles occurs near the banks due to the low velocity of the flow in these areas (Bauer 2013), seasonal flood probably favoured the recruitment of P. pandaliformis in the margins of the river.…”

Design of a Biological Corridor for Migration of Freshwater Prawn over a Dam in the Southwestern Slopes of Los Andes, Peru

“…These works were focused in terms of swimming speed (m.s -1 ) and swimming endurance (s). Otherwise, [20] studied the effect of effort in swimming on glucose levels in lymph freshwater prawn. The aforementioned aspects of these works done were taken into account in order to have a better sizing migration step for river prawn and reduce to a minimum the effect of their migratory movement.…”

Growth, elemental and proximate biochemical composition of larval Amazon River prawn, Macrobrachium amazonicum, reared under different salinity conditions

“…This indicates a diadromous strategy with larval export to salt water, followed by larval development in estuarine or coastal marine water, and finally an upstream migration and recolonization of limnic habitats by juveniles (for recent review of reproductive strategies in freshwater shrimp, see Bauer, 2013). Since unfavorable osmotic conditions may cause enhanced metabolic losses, and thus, reduced larval survival and growth (McNamara et al, 1983;Zanders & Rodríguez, 1992;Huong et al, 2010), this raises the question which salinities allow for successful rearing in research cultivation and commercial aquaculture.…”