The first zoeal stage reveals clear adaptations to the species' life in freshwater environments. Even in
extremely eunhaline brackish-water species, freshly hatched larvae exposed to freshwater will immediately
cease swimming and die within a few hours. In contrast, most Sesarma angustipes zoeae remain active
and unaffected throughout 1 d, and many individuals
may survive even for a second day. This unusual
degree of tolerance to osmotic stress would give the
zoea I sufficient time to swim actively near the surface
and be transported by currents out of their river of
origin, into brackish or marine waters.
When the larvae have reached the oligohaline waters
of an upper estuary, they would have even more time
for their further transport: in a salinity as low as 3 %o S
they can survive about 3 d. This should normally be
sufficient for them to reach waters with higher
salinities, where longer survival times and some further
development become possible. However, it is interesting
to note that brackish water conditions with 10 %O S
still have obvious negative effects on larval survival
and development rates in Sesarma angustipes,
whereas other brackish water species that never live in
freshwater (e.g. Rhithropanopeus harrisii) may develop
even at 2.5 %O S (Costlow et al. 1966).
The tolerance of larval Sesarma angustipes to low
salinity decreases in successive stages. The zoea I had
a quite high survival rate at 10% S, and developed
equally well at 20 or 32%o S, with a slightly shorter
moult cycle at 20%0 S. Although this difference in
duration of development is very small (1.8 vs 2.0 d), it is
statistically significant (p < 0.05; see Fig. 2), and it may
reflect an adaptation of the zoea I to regular release in
freshwater and early development in brackish water
habitats.
Later zoeal stages of Sesarma angustipes exhibit a
slight preference for fully marine conditions, where
they mostly showed shortest development and highest
survival rates. At 10 %O S, they revealed clearly delayed
development and increased mortality. This shows that
S. angustipes in its development is still a marine
species.