Influence of temperature on developmental and biochemical traits of the red squat lobster <i>Grimothea monodon</i> (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) during early ontogeny

Temperature is one of the most important environmental factors that influence on the successful development and survival of decapod larvae. Our model species, the red squat lobster <i>Grimothea monodon</i>, has a wide biogeographic distribution in the Humboldt Current Ecosystem (HCE) and support important fishing activities. Recently, it has been described that juvenile and adult individuals of <i>G. monodon</i> (<i>i.e</i>., benthic phase of their ontogeny), present intraspecific variations in size, lifestyle, and nutritional condition, which could be modulated by the environmental conditions like temperature associated with depth. However, it is still unknown whether these intraspecific variations also occur during early ontogeny (<i>i.e</i>., planktonic larval phase). To investigate, we evaluated the effect of contrasting temperatures (<i>i.e</i>., cold: 12 °C <i>vs</i>. warm: 20 °C) on the developmental and biochemical parameters of larvae of the red squat lobster <i>G. monodon</i> under laboratory conditions. Our results show that differences were observed only in the development time and larval size of the larvae developed at the two experimental culture temperatures. No significant variations were recorded in mortality during the larval phase (<i>i.e</i>., from zoea I to megalopa), nor were significant variations detected in the biomass (dry weight) or the biochemical-elemental constituents (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen) of an advanced larval stage (zoea V) at the two evaluated temperatures. Our findings suggest that during early ontogeny <i>G. monodon</i> presents intraspecific variability in its developmental traits along with a high physiological-energetic plasticity that allows it to survive and successfully cope with the temporal and spatial variations in seawater temperature that frequently occur in the HCE.