The life cycle of Octolasmisspecies includes six nauplius (N1 - N6) and one cyprid larval stage. All larval stages were described for Octolasmis muelleri(Coker, 1902) and all but the cyprid stage were described forOctolasmis forresti(Stebbing, 1894) by Lang (1976, 1979). Nauplius stages (N1 – N4) of Octolasmis aymonini geryonophila(Pilsbry, 1907) were described by Colón-Urban et al. (1979). Our observations of the life cycle stages of Octolasmis cor (Aurivillius, 1892), Jeffries et al.,(1995), described six nauplius stages (N1 - N6) followed by the cyprid stage, which upon attachment metamorphoses to the juvenile form. In O. cor, under controlled conditions at 25±1ºC, an average of nine days elapsed from the appearance of the egg masses in the parental capitulum to the release of N1 larvae. Under the described culture conditions, 27 days elapsed from the first appearance of egg masses to the first cyprid larvae. Eighteen days elapsed from N1 release to cyprid appearance.
Consider the enormity of the twelvefold increase in length of the O. cor nauplii, N1 - N6, in just eighteen days! In that time period the naupliar stages capture, ingest, digest, and store enough food reserves to: 1. support metamorphosis to a different body morph, the cyprid larval stage, which is non-feeding; 2. energize the cyprid activities of swimming and exploration, essential to host identification, settlement and attachment; and 3. support metamorphosis to yet another body morph, the juvenile. With these events accomplished, the stage is set for the whole life cycle to be repeated.
Jeffries, W.B., Voris, H.K. and Yang, C.M. 1989. A new mechanism of host colonization: Pedunculate barnacles of the genus Octolasmis on the mangrove crab, Scylla serrata. Ophelia, 31(1):51-58.
Jeffries, W.B., Voris, H.K., Poovachiranon, S., and Heil, L.C. 1995. The life cycle stages of the lepadomorph barnacle, Octolasmis cor, and methods for their laboratory culture. Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin, 60:29-35