Zoeal stages of alpheus brevicristatus De Haan, 1849 (decapoda, caridea, alpheidae) with a key to the first zoeal larvae of three Korean alpheus species

Alpheus brevicristatus De Haan, 1849, one of the largest alpheid shrimps, is known to occur in Korea Strait and Yellow Sea of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (Kim, 1977; Banner and Banner, 1984; Jeng and Chang, 1985). It inhabits shallow burrows in soft mud flats of estuary and Zostera belts of bay bottom (Miya, 1971) and lives in a symbiotic association with the gobies (Banner and Banner, 1982). Very little is known about the larvae of alpheid shrimp in Korea and its adjacent waters. Yang and Kim (1996, 1999) described the third zoeal stages of both Alpheus euphrosyne richardsoni Yaldwyne, 1971 and Alpheus heeia Banner and Banner, 1975. Miyazaki (1937) reported the first zoeal stage of A. brevicristatus from Japanese waters but failed to provide a detailed description. Beyond Korean waters, only two descriptions of alpheid larvae are available. Knowlton (1973) described the complete larval development of Alpheus heterochaelis Say, 1818 with the abbreviated life history from East America, Atlantic Ocean. Bruce (1974) described the abbreviated larval development of Racilius compressus Paulson, 1875 from East Africa, Indian Ocean. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the early larval stages of A. brevicristatus in detail, to compare them with previously described larvae of the Alpheus, and to provide a key to the first zoeal larvae of three Korean Alpheus species.