Larval nutritional stress affects trophic compensation of juvenile caridean shrimp Palaemon varians

Exposure to nutritional stress during early ontogeny can generate latent effects that are carried over to later developmental stages and affect their growth performance. However, the compensatory role played by food quality at such later stages is not well known in invertebrates with bi-phasic life cycles. Here, larvae of the caridean shrimp Palaemon varians were either allowed to feed immediately after hatching or forced to advance to their next larval stage by catabolizing their endogenous energy reserves (using facultative primary lecithotrophy). After metamorphosis, decapodids originating from both groups of larvae were exposed to one of the following trophic scenarios until reaching the fifth juvenile stage: i) low nutritional quality, ii) high nutritional quality, iii) shifting from low to high nutritional quality, or iv) shifting from high to low nutritional quality. Delayed exogenous feeding reduced the growth performance of juvenile shrimp but access to a stable, high-quality diet improved it, promoting a faster development, and a superior fatty acid profile. These findings indicate a compensatory role induced by a high nutritional quality trophic scenario. Although none of the trophic scenarios to which P. varians was exposed to in the present study led to irreversible damage, trophic conditions pre-metamorphosis can shape post-metamorphosis growth performance. •Onset of larval feeding had no effect on the timing of metamorphosis.•Delayed larval feeding reduced the growth of P. varians.•Juvenile P. varians can cope with nutritional stress pre-metamorphosis.•Juvenile P. varians fatty acid profiles varied with diet post-metamorphosis.