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Morphological Variations Among Larval-Postlarval Intermediates Produced by Eyestalk Ablation in the Snapping Shrimp Alpheus heterochaelis Say

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425
² Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: grossp{at}musc.edu

The eyestalk of many crustaceans contains the X-organ, the presumptive site of production and release of many protein and peptide hormones into the hemolymph. Removal of the eyestalk deprives the animal of these hormones and is known to affect many physiological processes in the adult and developing larva. In the snapping shrimp Alpheus heterochaelis Say, eyestalk ablation performed early in larval development has profound effects on morphogenesis, causing the appearance of supernumerary larval stages, accompanied by retardation and even complete arrest of morphogenesis. In this study, we examined the effects on morphogenesis of bilateral eyestalk removal at carefully controlled intervals. We found that the crucial point for this operation—the point at which the animal attains the ability to metamorphose fully—is just before the onset of ecdysis to the third instar. Additionally, the pattern of development and morphogenesis among body segments follows a discernible double gradient pattern along the anterior-posterior axis in which the extremities of the animal attain the potential for morphogenetic advance prior to the central thorax. This pattern of morphogenesis, punctuated by ecdysis, is a continuous rather than a stepwise or compartmentalized phenomenon.