The biology of Pandalus

The literature on the biology of 15 described species of the shrimp genus Pandalus, reported from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in the Northern Hemisphere is reviewed. Information on taxonomy, external morphology as well as species descriptions, keys to adult stages and systems for classification and species determination of larvae is treated. Present knowledge on geographic distributions, depth distributions and salinity, temperature, and habitat preferences on the continental shelves and slopes are also accounted for and discussed. Various aspects of the life histories of these species are described. The treatise on reproduction biology includes a discussion of evolutionary maintenance of protandric hermaphroditism, which is the dominating mode of reproduction in the genus, as well as an account of the present knowledge of the mechanism of sex change in these shrimp. Methods used to describe reproductive cycles as well as results are described and exemplified. Temperature effects on the duration of different phases of the reproductive cycles represented in the genus are discussed. Detailed accounts of adult behaviour in connection with mating, oviposition and hatching are presented. A section on Pandalus larvae includes accounts and discussions of behaviour, nutrition, growth and survival. Adult behaviour is treated both on individual and population levels, reports on schooling, migrations and food and feeding are reviewed and discussed. Predators, diseases and parasites on Pandalus are accounted for as well as some information on competitors. Methods for estimating growth and age and factors affecting growth are described and reviewed. Population dynamics, including population discrimination, abundance and standing stock estimation, parent stock-recruitment relationships and mortality factors, is discussed and illustrated by examples. Notes on the fishery on Pandalus, which from an economical point of view is surpassed only by the fishery for shrimp in the family Penaediae, and the potential for aquaculture concludes the review.