Larval development of Megalobrachium roseum (Decapoda: Anomura: Porcellanidae) under laboratory conditions

The larval development of Megalobrachium roseum is completely described and illustrated on the basis of laboratory-reared material obtained from four ovigerous females captured on rocky bottoms of shallow waters in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Megalobrachium roseum hatches as a prezoea of less than 120 minutes duration, and then molts through two subsequent zoeal stages of 5-7 and 6-8 days duration, respectively, at 25degreesC and 37parts per thousand salinity, before attaining megalopal stage. Morphology of the zoeal and megalopal stages of M. roseum is compared with those of the three other species of Megalobrachium for which the larval development has been described (i.e., M. pacificum, M, poeyi, and M. soriatum).