The ovarian cycle during the intermoult in ovigerous Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Adult female Macrobrachium rosenbergii held in captivity in optimal growing conditions spawned within a few hours after their pre-mating moult. If fertilized, the females carried the eggs with the developing embryos under their 1st-4th abdominal segments in a brood chamber. In about 90% of the animals investigated, while the developing embryos were being carried, a new batch of oocytes was maturing in the ovaries, increasing from 100 μm to 530 μm, the final size of ripe eggs. Ovarian cycle time sequences were established with reference to pre-mating moult, color changes of the developing embryos, zoea hatching and pre-mating moult of the next cycle. The relationship between growing oocytes and their follicular cell envelope was studied by light and electron microscopy.