Lysmata amboinensis larva

[Luis A M]

Well,I´m playing again this crazy game,but I think I´m improving.
I have a new batch at Z7 with decent survival,so I expect at least to document some more stages.
The good thing is that they reached Z7 in 18 days.Like a clockwork,they molted and changed stages every three days.There were no "marking time molts"ie. molts where the same stage is repeated.
So at least up to Z7 we can expect a molt and a new stage every 3 days as per the formula (stage-1)x3=age in days.
If things could keep like that,we would have a Z12 at 33 days and a settled shrimp at 36,about the same peppermints take.
Unfortunately things change after Z7.It´s like a video game where we are moved to a new,difficult and unknown level.After Z7,larvae take several months to settle and usually die in the meantime.The mechanisms they use to stretch for so long their larval development could be one or more of the following:a- the infamous "time marking"which is related to larval distress,so not clear how natural this is;b-longer inter-molting periods and c-more,undescribed larval stages.
I will watch carefully this "second level"of larval development and try to describe and document new stages here.Some day we will have pictured the whole series