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INTRODUCTION OF CARCINOLOGY
SKIN CHANGES (MOLTING) IN CRUSTACEA
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background Indonesia has various types of crustaceans that are widely distributed and are generally found in various waters. Crustaceans include animals such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, and barnacles. The majority of these animals are aquatic animals, living in fresh water or sea water. The bodies of crustaceans are coated with a layer of chitin as a hard exoskeleton which is useful for protecting their bodies from various things that can have a bad impact on them. As crustaceans grow larger, their stiff and hard exoskeletons become unsuitable for their bodies. Because of this, the process of changing the skin (molting) occurs. The better the growth, the more often the shrimp change their shells. Molting in crustaceans consists of 3 stages, namely the phase before molting ( Proecdysis ), immediately after molting ( Ecdysis ), and after molting ( Postecdysis ) (Kittaka & Booth 2000; Waterman 1960). B. Objective The purpose of this paper is to find out about molting (changing skin) in crustaceans
II. DISCUSSION
Molting is the process of changing the shell in crustacean animals. Crustacea members include shrimp, crabs, lobsters, and others. Molting occurs if the shrimp gets bigger while the exoskeleton does not get bigger because it is stiff and hard, so to adjust it, the old exoskeleton is removed and a new exoskeleton is formed with the help of calcium. Shrimp growth is influenced by 2 factors, namely external and internal factors. External factors include the presence of stressors, chemical composition of water, basic substrate, water temperature, and food availability. Meanwhile, internal factors include genetic characteristics and physiological conditions (Susanto and Suhendra, 2020). In general, the molting process in juveniles occurs every 10 days. Meanwhile, once it matures, it happens 4-5 times a year, and when it becomes a parent and never spawns, it usually happens 1-2 times a year. During this skin change event, there are biochemical processes that occur, namely the expenditure (excretion) and absorption (absorption) of calcium in the animal's body. The new skin that forms will be pale in color. After 2-3 days it will be the same color as usual. This is due to changes in water content or due to food and the process of releasing certain substances in the shrimp's body (Roimohtarto and Juwana, 2007). Molting functions to stimulate and accelerate growth. Molting also plays a role in the gonad maturation process, so that females can produce eggs and males can produce sperm. Molting can also regrow defective organs (Wiyanto and Hartono, 2003). Molting can induce cannibalism in healthy crustaceans. When molting, crustaceans will release molting fluid containing amino acids, enzymes and organic compounds resulting from the initial decomposition of the exoskeleton, the smell of which can stimulate the crustacean's appetite.
Figure 1. The process of molting in shrimp Source: http://staff.unila.ac.id/gnugroho/files/2014/03/MOLTING-PADA-HEWAN- CRUSTACEA.pdf III. CLOSING From the explanation above, it can be concluded that there are 2 growth factors that cause molting, namely internal factors and external factors. There are also 4 stages in the molting process in Crustacea, namely Proecdysis, Ecdysis, Mecedysis, and Intermolt.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kittaka and Booth. 2000. Crustacean Farming: Ranching and Culture, Second edition. Blackwell Science. Western Australia. Romimohtarto, K. and Juwana, S. 2007. Marine Biology 1st Edition, Science about Marine Biota. Bridge. Jakarta. Susanto, GN and Suhendra, A. 2020. Caserinology Laboratory Work Guide. AURA CV Anugrah Utama Raharja. Lampung. Susanto, GN Molting in Crustacean Animals. http://staff.unila.ac.id/gnugroho/files/2014/03/MOLTING-PADA-HEWAN- CRUSTACEA.pdf, accessed on 30 April 2020. Waterman, TH, and Chace, FA 1960. General Crustacean Biology. In: “The Physiology of Crustacea” (TH Waterman ed.). Academic Press. New York and London. Wiyanto, RH and Hartono, R. 2003. Freshwater Lobsters, Hatchery and Rearing. Self- Help Spreader. Jakarta. 79 pp.
