Fig. 1. Embryo attachment system and its stripping from the ovigerous hairs after hatching, in the estuarine crab Sesarma haematocheir. (A) Diagram of the incubation chamber of the female (space between the thorax T and the abdomen Ab). (B) The abdominal appendage of the female. Ovigerous hairs (oh) are arranged in whorls on the ovigerous seta (os). Embryos are attached to the ovigerous hairs by the stalk (funiculus), but not to the fine hairs arranged on the plumose seta (ps). (C) Embryos attached to an ovigerous hair (living specimen). (D) The egg attachment system remained on the ovigerous hairs just after hatching. (E) Ovigerous hairs stripped several hours after hatching. (F) The ovigerous seta with its attached embryos was divided into five segments, one of which is shown here. (G) A segment of the ovigerous seta from which the embryos were gently pulled with a forceps after detaching from the female and subdividing. (H) A segment of the ovigerous seta from which the embryos were gently pulled with a forceps after immersion in the hatch water for 1.5 h. wl, walking leg; go, gonopore; an, anus; em, embryo cluster; sg, segment of the ovigerous seta. Scale bars: A, 5 mm; B,D,E, 2 mm; C, 0.5 mm; F–H, 1 mm.