Staff

Kaori Wakabayashi(Associate Professor)
email kaoriw (at) hiroshima-u.ac.jp

My research focuses on elucidating the life-history traits of marine invertebrates and their evolutionary patterns, as well as developing seed production and aquaculture technologies that utilize these biological characteristics. Currently, I am conducting both fundamental and applied research on spiny and slipper lobsters, investigating their reproductive ecology and developing technologies for aquaculture and stock enhancement.
I am also interested in interspecific relationships and the mechanisms that maintain them in marine ecosystems. My research explores associations between phyllosoma larvae of spiny and slipper lobsters and jellyfish, between pelagic amphipods and salps, between sea stars and their parasitic crustaceans, and so on. Through these studies, I aim to better understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape symbiotic and host-associated relationships in the marine environment.

Home country: Noto town, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Favorite aquatic animals: Astropecten latespinosus, Ibacus novemdentatus, Cavolinia uncinata, etc.
Hobby: Traveling

Students

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Yi-Hung Hsiao (Doctoral)

Home country: Keelung, Taiwan
Favorite aquatic animals: fan lobsters, ornate lobster
Hobby: Cooking, Workout, Rugby, Watching movies
Research topic: Characterization of molting cycle in planktonic larvae of Ibacus novemdentatus Gibbes, 1850 reared in the laboratory

 

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Ahmad Safuan Bin Sallehuddin (Doctoral)

Home country: Pahang, Malaysia
Favorite aquatic animals: red claw, fan lobsters
Hobby: Watching movies, Sightseeing, Cooking
Research topic: Host condition and association behaviour influencing feeding strategies of Ibacus novemdentatus larvae

 

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Le Ngoc Hanh (Doctoral)

Home country: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Favorite aquatic animals: swimming crabs, ivory shell, Thenus orientalis
Hobby: Swimming, Fishing, Workout, Watching movies
Research topic: Effects of garlic extract supplemented diets on growth and survival of the whiteleg shrimp

 

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Mst Afia Sultana (Master's)

Home country: Bangladesh
Favorite aquatic animals: fan lobsters, hilsa, giant freshwater prawn
Hobby: Reading books, Writing, traveling
Research topic: Embryonic Developmental Dynamics in Ibacus ciliatus and Ibacus novemdentatus

 

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Suguru Ikeda (Master's)

Home country: Aichi, Japan
Favorite aquatic animals: fan lobsters, jellyfish
Hobby: Reading books, Workout
Research topic: Evaluation of the physicochemical properties of food for Ibacus novemdentatus larvae

 

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ZhiGuang Dai (Research Student)

Home country: Shenzhen, China
Favorite aquatic animals: octopus, whale, giant grouper
Hobby: Workout, Cooking, Traveling
Research topic: Effects of photoperiod and light source on survival and development of Ibacus novemdentatus phyllosoma larvae

 

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Yui Koshima (Bachelor)

Home country: Hiroshima, Japan
Favorite aquatic animals: penguin, octopus, garden eel
Hobby: Playing games, Watching movies
Research topic: Toxicity of ammonia-N on whiteleg shrimp under low-salinity conditions

 

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Satsuki Makihara (Bachelor)

Home country: Hiroshima, Japan
Favorite aquatic animals: jellyfish
Hobby: Playing board games, Traveling
Research topic: Co-speciation of seastar endoparasites (Ascothoracida: Dendrogasteridae: Dendrogaster) with their hosts

 

Almuni

Past thesis titles

Graduate Students

Year and Degree Title Achievement
AY2025, Master Effects of water temperature on growth, feeding, and survival of juvenile smooth fan lobsters  
AY2025, Master Genetic and morphological differences in Phronimella elongata from the Japanese waters  
AY2025, Master Taxon-specific morphological characteristics in stomatopod larvae Research Article
AY2023, Master Evaluation of the lower limit of optimal salinity for development and survival of Ibacus novemdentatus larvae  
AY2021, Master Larval phototactic response to different light intensities of the smooth fan lobster Ibacus novemdentatus Gibbes, 1850 and its change depending on time of day Award
AY2021, Master Study on the effects of fatty acid composition on the larval development of the perimetamorphic phase in a slipper lobster, Ibacus novemdentatus  
AY2020, Master High quality roe can be produced in Heliocidaris crassispina by using an appropriate feeding regime regardless of sea urchin age Research Article
AY2020, Master Taxonomic study of Dendrogaster adhaerens (Crustacea: Ascothoracida) and the interaction with its host sea-star Research Article
AY2020, Master Toxicity of ammonia to phyllosoma Stage I of three species of slipper lobsters in Japan Research Article
AY2019, Master Development of PUFA enrichment technique for moon jellyfish  
AY2019, Master Effects of low temperature culture conditions on contraction and survival of moon jellyfish (Aurelia coerulea)  
AY2018, Master The barrel-switching of phronimid species from the viewpoints of phylogeny and morphology Research Article

Undergraduate

Year Title Achievement
AY2025 Effects of body parts of dietary jellyfish on survival and development of the first instar larvae of Ibacus novemdentatus  
AY2025 Effects of water temperature and salinity on feeding efficiency, growth, and survival of the Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei Newspaper
AY2024 Amphionides reynaudii (Decapoda: Caridea) taxonomic review based on genetic information of adults and first record from Japanese waters  
AY2024 Assessment of the natural diets for the benthic stage of the Japanese fan lobster (Ibacus ciliatus)  
2023 Taxonomic reconsideration of Phronimella elongata (Claus 1862) (Amphipoda: Hyperiidea: Phronimidae)  
AY2023 Identifying and classifying giant mantis shrimp larvae collected from the western Japanese waters Research Article
AY2022 Impact of the particle size of sediments on digging behaviour of Ibacus novemdentatus juveniles Research Article
AY2022 Oogenesis and ovarian maturity of the Japanese fan lobster Ibacus ciliatus  
AY2021 Effect of the culture using different artificial seawater on molting of phyllosoma larvae in Ibacus spp.  
AY2021 Defining the developmental stages of the embryos of fan lobster, Ibacus ciliatus based on the morphological characteristics  
AY2020 The true identity of scyllarid nisto larva obtained in the Chichijima, the Ogasawara Islands: based on DNA analysis and morphological observation Research Article
AY2020 Ecological factors inducing gregarious settlement of planula larvae of moon jellyfish, Aurelia coerulea  
AY2019 Species identification of stomatopod larvae collected in the west ern Japanese waters  
AY2019 Larval phototaxis in the early phyllosoma stages of the smooth fan lobster Ibacus novemdentatus Gibbes, 1850  
AY2018 Taxonomic study of Dendorogaster sp. (Crustacea: Thecostraca: Ascothoracida) from Fromia indica (Asteroidea: Echinodermata)  
AY2018 Improvement of gonad quantity and taste of sea urchin Heliocidaris crassispina by using formulated feeds Newspaper
AY2017 Effects of prey density on the amount of ingestion of ephyrae, metaphyrae and juveniles of Aurelia coerulea  
AY2017 Development of a formulated diet for fan lobster larvae using comb jelly species