Research Paper

Effects of light, temperature and salinity on reproductive behaviors of Artemia sinica Cai, 1989 (Crustacea: Anostraca)

Li-Shun Liu, Shi-Chun Sun

Published on: 02 January 2026

Page: 11 - 22

DOI: 10.6165/tai.2026.71.11

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    Abstract

    Reproductive biology of Artemia has been extensively studied, yet there are still unresolved issues regarding Artemia reproductive behaviors and their relationships with environmental factors. To better understand Artemia reproductive behaviors and environmental effects, we observed mating of Artemia sinica using visual inspection and video recording, and experimentally examined the influence of light versus dark, temperature (5–37 °C), and salinity (5–240 ppt) on its reproductive behaviors. Mating process in A. sinica can be categorized into seven behaviors: detection and orientation, station taking, grasping, pre-copulatory guarding/amplexus, intromission and copulation, post-copulatory guarding/amplexus, and disengagement. Males of A. sinica mostly attempt to copulate immediately after grasping a female though often unsuccessful, indicating pre-copulatory guarding is not indispensable. The average copulatory duration of A. sinica is 11.5-2.7 min, longer than those recorded for other branchiopods. Artemia sinica exhibits no threshold temperature or salinity for initiating amplexus, but prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures or salinities leads to complete suppression of amplexus. Amplexus rates decline under extremely high and low temperatures or salinities, and under darkness. Except at lethal temperatures or salinities, the amplexus duration and amplexus-to-reproduction duration are decreased by the elevation of temperature, and increased by the elevation of salinity. Artemia reared to adult at 25 °C can complete reproduction at 7.5 °C, much lower than the lower temperature limit (15 °C) generally considered for completing life cycle. This allows Artemia maturing in cooling autumn an opportunity to leave offspring, and may be beneficial to the continuation of populations.

    Keyword: amplexus, Anostraca, Artemia sinica, environmental factors, reproductive behavior

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