Osmoregulation pattern and salinity tolerance of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) during post-embryonic development

• The white shrimp osmotic pressure was established for each developmental stage.
• L. vannamei osmoregulatory pattern during development is of type 3.
• Tolerance to salinity increases during postembryonic development.

The euryhaline white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei lives in both coastal and oceanic areas through ontogeny. Its osmoregulation pattern and variations in its tolerance to salinity are partially known from several studies under different experimental conditions (developmental stages, salinities and acclimation procedures). Although L. vannamei is recognized as one of the most euryhaline penaeid species, with adults and juveniles exhibiting a hyper–hypo-osmoregulatory pattern and being able to tolerate a wide salinity range, little is known on larval and early postlarval strategies to cope with salinity fluctuations. In order to establish their euryhalinity range and to fully understand the ontogenetic changes in L. vannamei osmoregulatory pattern, we evaluated the effect of six salinities (5, 10, 20, 32, 45 and 60 psu) on 17 developmental stages by directly exposing them to experimental salinities and conducting observations during the next 48 h. At 5 h post-osmotic shock (hps), all developmental stages survived (> 20%) in 20, 32 and 45 psu. The euryhalinity and osmoregulation pattern changed at some developmental stages of L. vannamei. The hyper–hypo osmoregulatory pattern exhibited by juvenile and adult appears to be established early in the first post-larval stage PL1 (ontogenetic osmoregulation pattern type 3), with higher tolerance to salinity variations observed in PL2, PL4 and PL22 suggesting that L. vannamei shows a progressive increase in the efficiency of osmoregulatory mechanism following last metamorphosis.