Serotonin immunoreactivity in the ventral nerve cord of the primitive crustacean Anaspides tasmaniae closely resembles that of crayfish

Syncarid crustaceans, of which only a few living species remain, have articulated segments with well-developed appendages along the length of the body, an arrangement thought to resemble that of the earliest malacostracan crustaceans. Decapod malacostracans have fused thoracic segments and reduced abdominal appendages. Modern representatives of the two groups are separated by at least 300 million years of evolutionary history. The serotonin immunoreactivity of ganglia and connectives from the ventral nerve cord of the syncarid Anaspides tasmaniae was compared with that of serially homologous ganglia of the crayfish Cherax destructor. Both species show the serotonin-immunoreactive longitudinal fibre bundles described from other decapods and thought to be part of a neuromodulatory network. They also have in common a number of the cell bodies associated with this system. Each species has some serotonergic cells in the region examined that are not present, or that do not stain, in the other species.