Abstract： The microstructure of compound eyes was studied in greasy-back shrimp Metapenaeus ensis by paraffin section method to further investigate the structure and function of light-sensitive organs of crustaceans .The greasy-back shrimp had hemispherical eyes ,and square ommatidia which was composed of 11 retinular cells with the structure of “4 + 7” for sensitization system .The rhabdom of the ommatidia was made up of open distal rhabdom and closed proximal rhabdom . It could be concluded that morphological structure of the compound eyes of the crustaceans reflected relationship with living habits and environment rather than kinship and movement pattern compared with compound eyes of other macrura species ,such as red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus ,Chinese shrimp Penaeus chinensis , Malaysian prawn M acrobrachium rosenbergii , red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarki , and brachyura species ,such as swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus ,Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis ,Asian swimming crab Charybdis j aponica ,and mud crab Scylla serrata .
