Ovary development in the deep-sea shrimp Acanthephyra eximia Smith, 1884 in Sardinian waters

We report data regarding the gonad development in females of Acanthephyra eximia Smith, 1884. Specimens were caught during experimental surveys carried out in Sardinian waters between 500 and 1880 m. We employed for our analysis of the ovary development both macroscopic observation and histologic analysis. According to the macroscopic observations, carried out on 491 specimens, six developmental stages of the ovaries were identified. These were validated by histologic analysis, performed on a sample of 10 specimens per stage, that allow us to describe different cell types. A table whith both macroscopic and histologic stages of the female gonad of A. eximia are briefly summarized.