“…The present study shows that a light: dark cycle is more suitable for the larval culture of M . brachydactyla , independently of the duration of the light phase, as observed during the larval culture of other brachyurans, for example, Ranina ranina (Minagawa, ), Carcinus maenas (Dawirs, ), Portunus pelagicus (Andrés et al, ), and Ucides cordatus (Cottens, Silva, Ventura, Ramos, & Ostrensky, ). In brachyurans as Sesarma reticulatum , the survival of the larvae decreases with the shortening of the light period (Costlow & Bookhout, ), while in the anomurans as Birgus latro , the survival of the larvae decreases when cultured in constant darkness (Hamasaki, Ogiso, Dan, & Kitada, ); but such influence is not clear in the present study.…”