Volumen 41 - Número 2: 187-193 | 2006
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Cysts and nauplii biometry characteristics of seven Artemia franciscana (Kellog, 1906) populations from Mexico

Jorge Castro^1*, Thalía Castro¹, Jesús Sánchez¹, Germán Castro¹, Araceli Castro¹, Juana Zaragoza¹, Ramón de Lara¹ and Maria del C. Monroy¹

¹Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Live Food Production Laboratory, El Hombre y su Ambiente, Calzada del Hueso Nº 1100, Colonia Villa Quietud, Mexico, 04960, D.F.

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The goal of this study was to establish the biometric characteristics of cysts and nauplii of seven Artemia populations from Mexico, covering aspects related with the normal and decapsulated cysts diameter, chorion thickness, and nauplii instar I length. Cysts used for the experiment were collected in their natural habitat, cleaned, dried, and stored in the laboratory. One hundred measurements for each of the variables where done with an Olympus optical microscope equipped with a digital camera and an automated image analyzer program. To determine differences in the mean values of variables among populations, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with post hoc Tukey pairwaise comparison tests. In hydrated cysts, Tukey´s analysis showed no significant differences between the pairs: Yavaros/Cuatro Cienegas and Cuatro Ciénegas/Texcoco. For the diameter of decapsulated cysts the same analysis indicated no significant differences in Yavaros/Cuatro Ciénegas, Yavaros/Texcoco, and Cuatro Cienegas/Texcoco. Comparisons of naupliar lengths among Yavaros/Ohuira, Real Salinas/Cuatro Cienegas, and San Luis Potosi/Texcoco did not reveal differences. The Texcoco, San Luis Potosí, Yavaros, and Ohuira populations had smaller naupliar lengths than those of the San Francisco Bay populations. It is advisable to use these populations in larviculture and to consider their cultivation in their own habitats as possible viable projects.

Key words: Artemia, Mexico, biometry, cysts, nauplii