Reproductive biology of the sea anemone shrimp Periclimenes rathbunae (Caridea, Palaemonidae, Pontoniinae), from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica

Abstract

Caridean shrimps are a highly diverse group and many species form symbiotic relationships with different marine invertebrates. Periclimenes rathbunae is a brightly colored shrimp that lives predominantly in association with sea anemones. Information about the reproductive ecology of the species is scarce. Therefore, we collected 70 ovigerous females inhabiting the sun sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus in coral reefs from the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Females produced on average 289 ± 120 embryos. The volume of recently-produced embryos was on average 0.038 mm3, and embryo volume increased by 192% during the incubation period. The average embryo mortality during embryogenesis was 24%. The reproductive output was 0.24 ± 0.094, considerably higher than in many other pontoniine shrimps. Females carrying embryos close to hatching showed fully developed ovaries, suggesting consecutive spawning. We assume that the sheltered habitat, living on sea anemones, allows Periclimenes rathbunae to allocate more energy in embryo production than most other free-living caridean shrimps. This is the first record of Periclimenes rathbunae for Costa Rica.

Fecundity and reproductive output of the caridean shrimp Periclimenes paivai associated with scyphozoan jellyfish

“…An increase in embryonic volume during the ontogeny seems to be common in Decapoda Crustacea (Lardies & Wehrtmann 1997;Terossi et al 2010;Antunes et al 2014;Azofeifa-Solano et al 2014) because the crustacean embryos absorb water and consequently increase in water content (presenting an increasing size) (Pandian 1970). Wear (1974) suggested a close relationship between the increase in embryo volume produced by females during the ontogeny and the number of embryonic and larval stages presented by the species.…”

“…Periclimenes Costa, 1844 is distributed in the Western Atlantic (Bruce 2004) and comprises species with diverse types of symbiotic relationships (Williams Jr. & Williams 1982;Martinelli-Filho et al 2008;Azofeifa-Solano et al 2014), and Periclimenes paivai Chace 1969 is the only shrimp species reported to associate with the scyphozoan medusoid phase off the Brazilian coast (Criales 1980;Martinelli-Filho et al 2008;Gonçalves, Wolf, et al 2016). However, only the first zoeal stage of P. paivai has been described (Pantaleão et al 2013), and our knowledge about its population biology is scarce.…”

Reproductive biology of the shrimp Palaemon northropi (Rankin, 1898) (Caridea: Palaemonidae) from an estuary in the Brazilian northeastern

“…The mean embryos volume was similar to that in a population of P. northropi studied by Corey & Reid (1991) [44] and to other species of Palaemon, such as P. gravieri [12] and P. longirostris [2] ( Table 1). On the other hand, the embryo volume was higher compared to other Paleomonidae shrimp, such as Cuapetes americanus (Kingsley, 1878) [62] and shrimp of the genus Periclimenes (Costa, 1844) [44,49,57,63]. Differences in embryo volume may be related to differences in the environmental conditions, particularly salinity, of the species' habitats [64].…”

“…Caridean shrimps and other decapods adopt a specific behavior during the incubation period, in which females spend some time brushing the embryo mass to remove parasites and to ensure good oxygen supply [56]. This activity is a possible explanation for the low embryo loss in caridean shrimp, such as Periclimenes rathbunae (Schmitt, 1942) [57] and M. acanthurus [7], among others. In this study, the mean embryo volume of P. northropi increased as embryo development proceeded from Stage I to Stage III.…”

“…In this study, the mean embryo volume of P. northropi increased as embryo development proceeded from Stage I to Stage III. However, an increase in embryonic volume during ontogeny is common in decapods [e.g., 57,58,59,60]. This is because crustacean embryos are able to absorb water and, consequently, increase in size [61].…”