Description of embryonic development of prawn macrobrachium dayanum henderson, 1893 (decapoda, palaemonidae) based on the staging method Sharma Apurva*, Langer Seema, Palaq Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, Jammu-180 006, India *E-mail:apurvasharmajmu@gmail.com
Online published on 9 March, 2021. Abstract The present communication is an attempt to record the developmental changes during the embryonic development of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium dayanum. The incubation period ranged from 20 to 35 days. The freshly oviposited eggs were olive green in colour with the mean length and breadth being 0.32 and 0.24mm, respectively. Various embryonic stages i.e., pre-cleavage stage, cleavage stage, gastrula stage, germinal disc stage, embryo stage, caudal papilla stage, c-shape stage, eye-spot stage, pigmented eye stage, segmented abdomen stage, pre-hatching stage and hatching stages respectively were differentiated and recorded based upon the various morphological events. The description of these morphological events can be used as a tool for authenticating the taxonomic status of a species and differentiating it from other related species, exhibiting overlapping adult characters which is a commonly encountered problem among decapod crustaceans in general and freshwater prawns in particular. Top Keywords Macrobrachium dayanum, Freshwater prawn, Embryonic stages. Top |