Introduction
One of the reasons for the reproductive success of Crustacea is
related to the fact thatmany of themcarry their eggs until hatching
resulting in a high survival rate for the eggs. In Palamonids, the eggs
are large and laid in bulk making it possible
to follow the embryonic development through the transparent
chorion. Several staging methods have employed to characterize
the meroblastic developmental pattern and to recognize
progressive morphological changes during embryonic development.
The embryogenesis of yolky eggs enables
all morphological changes to be followed daily by the
examination of the gross morphology and histological sections.
However, some methodologies also permit the evaluation of development by measurements of some externally observed
embryonic structures such as the eyes,relating
the quantitative variables to the morphological descriptions.
Yolky eggs of Palamonid prawns exhibit diverse incubation periods,
as described for Palaemonetes argentines, 10 days