Crustacean Reproductive Physiology and its Applications

Demand for crustacean production is increasing significantly throughout the world, and crustacean production from capture fisheries has almost stagnated. Aquaculture is the only possibility to meet this ever-growing demand for crustaceans. Still, many commercially important crustaceans are being captured from the wild, while breeding and seed production technologies are not available for these species. The bottleneck in the successful breeding of crustacean species is mainly due to the non-availability of information about reproductive biology. Studies on crustacean reproduction will shed new light on understanding the mechanism of sex determination and differentiation; meanwhile, the application of innovative techniques will vitally contribute to the progress of the crustacean industry. The research findings on crustacean reproduction will directly benefit aquaculture for successful captive breeding and seed production.

Here, we are gathering both original research and review papers with the scope of the research topic, including but not limited to:

• Mechanism of sex determination, sexual differentiation, and gonadal development in crustaceans;
• Other life functions (e.g. endocrine, nutrition, immunity, heredity) involved in reproduction in crustaceans;
• Applications of modern endocrinological and molecular approaches contributed to crustacean reproduction.