Mar Biol (2007) 152:1021–1029 DOI 10.1007/s00227-007-0763-4 123 RESEARCH ARTICLE Distribution and abundance of penaeid shrimps in a hypersaline lagoon in northwestern Mexico, emphasizing the brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus californiensis life cycle M. M. Manzano-Sarabia · E. A. Aragón-Noriega · C. A. Salinas-Zavala · D. B. Lluch-Cota Received: 7 November 2005 / Accepted: 22 May 2007 / Published online: 31 July 2007  Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Life histories of penaeid shrimp have been clas- siWed according to the preferred habitats of postlarval, juve- nile, and adult stages, ranging from exclusively estuarine to exclusively oVshore waters. Brown shrimp Farfantepena- eus californiensis migrate to an oVshore habitat at the juve- nile stage or even a smaller body size. This paper presents results of monthly samplings from 24 stations over 1 year in the Agiabampo Lagoon complex, a hypersaline lagoon in northwestern Mexico. Five species of penaeid shrimp were identiWed, with brown shrimp the most abundant during the year of sampling. Results suggest that residency of brown shrimp inside this lagoon is longer than reported in previ- ous studies. An interaction between length and environ- mental variables (near-surface temperature, salinity, and rainfall) appear to be cues concerning migration. Introduction Penaeid shrimp have been intensely studied in the subtrop- ics because they are a signiWcant component of the Wshery industry. The life cycle involves several stages: (1) female adults spawn in the ocean where the eggs undergo most of their larval development (nauplii, protozoea and mysis stages) until they reach the postlarvae stage, then enter coastal and estuarine waters, (2) at the juvenile stage, they migrate to oVshore waters where further growth and devel- opment occurs, and (3) after reaching reproductive matu- rity, spawning occurs (García and Le Reste 1981). Lagoons are vital to the life history of many penaeid species because they are the feeding and nursery areas of postlarvae. How- ever, the time spent inside lagoons varies among species, with some species having a complete life cycle oVshore (Dall et al. 1990). The brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus californiensis (Holmes 1900) is classiWed as a stenohaline species (Arre- ola-Lizárraga et al. 2004). Previous studies report that this species preferred marine habitats, based on low dependence on lagoons for postlarval growth. 1 In this work, our results diVer from the generalized schema of distribution of pen- aeid shrimps along the brackish-seawater gradient dis- cussed by García and Le Reste (1981). The brown shrimp was found to be the most abundant species inside of the lagoon during the year, spending more time than expected and growing until the adult stage. 1 Romero-Sedano et al. (2004) reported that a fraction of the population might mature and spawn in the inner part of the lagoon. The main motivation of this study was to evaluate the life history of the brown shrimp in the Agiabampo Lagoon complex, a hypersaline lagoon, to get a better understanding of the dynamics of this species in brackish lagoons. Interspecies interactions were also evaluated. Communicated by P.W. Sammarco. M. M. Manzano-Sarabia · C. A. Salinas-Zavala (&) · D. B. Lluch-Cota Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR), Mar Bermejo No. 195, Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, La Paz, Baja California Sur 23090, Mexico e-mail: csalinas@cibnor.mx E. A. Aragón-Noriega Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Unidad Sonora (CIBNOR-S), Km 2.35 Camino a Tinajas, predio el Tular, Estero Bacochibampo, Guaymas, Sonora 85454, Mexico 1 Holthuis (1980) mentioned that juveniles are rarely found in estuar- ies. Others state that brown shrimp spend a few weeks inside coastal lagoons (Edwards 1978; García and Le Reste 1981; Mathews 1981; López-Martínez et al. 2002).