Comparative brain ontogeny of the crayfish and clawed lobster: implications of direct and larval development

The freshwater crayfish Cherax destructor and the lobster Homarus americanus have many similarities including life style, body form, and neural organization. However, the ontogenic history is very different in the two species. The development of Cherax is short and direct whereas the development of Homarus comprises three pelagic larval stages and takes more than twice as long from extrusion to benthic stages at constant temperature. In order to determine the progression of maturation of the nervous system in each species and the potential implications of pelagic forms on brain structure, the timing of appearance of 22 general and neural developmental events clearly identifiable in both species was compared. The onset of serotonin antigenicity in the different parts of the brain was chosen as one marker of neural development. During the first month of embryogenesis the timing of morphological, physiological, and neural events is similar in the two species. Morphological development is then accelerated in the crayfish near hatching time and over the two postembryonic stages before the advent of the independent benthic stage. Such heterochronic processes can at least partly account for the different developmental patterns in the two decapods. Among the characters showing similar timing in the two species is the formation of glomeruli (presumptive zones of synaptic contact) in the olfactory lobes of the deutocerebrum, although this event is embryonic in Homarus but postembryonic in Cherax. In contrast, glomerular formation in the accessory lobes is heterochronic: in both species, the glomeruli of the accessory lobes are acquired postembryonically, that is, 3 to 4 months earlier in Cherax than in Homarus. These data suggest that the development of the glomeruli in the olfactory lobes may depend primarily on internal developmental signals, whereas the triggering of glomerular formation in the accessory lobes may depend on external cues. The fact that, in Homarus, only the postlarval stages show mature accessory glomeruli may be a reflection of the functional requirements of benthic life.