An early planktonic larval stage in many crustaceans.
Typically the earliest larval stage(s) of crustaceans; has only three pairs of appendages: antennules, antennae, and mandibles_all primarily of locomotive function.
The first planktonic larval stage of barnacles and some other crustaceans. The nauplius larva metamorphoses into the cypris larva.
A nauplius is the first larva of many kinds of crustaceans. It consists of a head and a telson; the thorax and abdomen have not developed yet. It has three pairs of appendages with which it swims; these become, in the adult, the antennules, the antennae, and the mandibles.