Molt staging in artemia adapted to drach's system.

The molting cycle of Artemia is described and subdivided in stages A-D3 according to the system of Drach. Determination of the stages is done in living animals by light microscopic observation of changes in the texture of the setal matrix of the exopodites. A parallel ultrastructural investigation of the integument was carried out to control the proposed staging scheme. The duration of each stage was calculated.