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FIRST PHOTO! Back in 2003, there were no known
photos of a berried female and it was exciting to receive this from
Bryan! In their natural anchialine ponds, no berried female has ever
been observed as all molting, breeding and egg-carrying is believed to
take place in the underground part of their habitats. Scientific
literature tell of berried females being observed in aquaculture
researcher's aquariums. Bryan's photo is believed to be the first
published. |
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Computer
enhancement by David Fukumoto. A
full-grown opae-ula is about 1/2" long and it's difficult to take a
good clear photo without special equipment. Bryan had already
computer enlarged the photo sent to me. It was taken into Adobe
Photoshop and enhanced to for sharpness and to show detail.
Photo and enhancement copyright
Fuku-Bonsai 2003
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At the end of 2004, Bryan sent a
full CD of extraordinary photos that he took with his digital camera
and utilizing a 5x jeweler's loupe handheld in front of the
lens. He moves his body back and forth until the subject is
sharply in focus. In taking several, there usually is at least one
clear one!
The following were selected to
pretty much covers the entire life cycle of opae-ula!
|
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PRE-MOLTING!
A female will sharply arch and an opening appears between the
carapace (body) and tail section to start the molting process. This is
believed to be a female based upon the long swimmerets that will hold
the eggs in the future. Crustaceans are known to mate only after a
female molts. |
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DEVELOPING
EGGS. Dark red spots seen through the transparent body are
believed to be eggs developing in the carapace. The male has
attached a sperm packet near the opening between the legs and as the
eggs emerge, they are fertilized and attached to the swimmerets where
the continual fanning keeps the eggs healthy. |
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ABORTING
EGGS. Sometimes a female will prematurely drop her eggs.
The brood period is about 35 days and usually the eggs are released just
prior to hatching. Those that are dropped within three days of
full term usually hatch as a membrane protects the eggs about 3 days.
Those aborted earlier don't hatch. There are usually 5 to 15
eggs. However David Chung successfully hatched 24 that all
survived! |
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HATCHING!
This is the only known photo of larvae hatching and still attached
to the female! Eggs are relatively large and about 1mm (about
1/16") in diameter. Larvae measure about 2.5mm (about 1/8")/ |
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ZOEA
LARVAE. When born, larvae appendages are still not developed
and they bob around in a tail up - head down position with the legs
swirling furiously to allow them to move about. This stage lasts about
two weeks. Opae-ula are not cannibalistic and adults generally ignore
them. However, in attractive dense population tanks, it is advisable to
suck them out and keep them in a small nursery unit so they do not get
rammed by adults actively swimming laps. |
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POST-LARVAE! They are born with a huge yolk sack that will
sustain the larvae for about 45 days and takes them through until
juvenile stage. This accounts for the very high survival rate. After
two weeks, they begin to swim horizontally. Their appendages continue to
develop and they become increasingly more skilled swimmers. They begin
to settle down and hide in the rocks and learn to eat by scraping algae.
But they are sometimes seen on the surface filter-feeding. |
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JUVENILES! This seven week old juvenile measures about
1/4" long and almost half grown. Except for size and being a
bit thin, it's already resembling an adult. As it grows and adds
more heft, the antennae lengthen to become longer than the length of
both body and tail. Juveniles are usually seen on the tank floor
and will join adults in lap swimming as they get older. In
anchialine ponds, juveniles are often found in the grasses or in
macro-algae. |
