Editing Amphipoda (section)

===Reproduction and life cycle===
Amphipods engage in [[amplexus]], a precopulatory guarding behavior in which males will grasp a female with their gnathopods (enlarged appendages used for feeding) and carry the female held against their ventral surface. Amplexus can last from two to over fifteen days, depending on water temperature, and ends when the female molts, at which point her eggs are ready for fertilisation.<ref name=Glazier>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Glazier |first=Doug |editor-last= Likens |editor-first=Gene |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Inland Waters |title=Amphipoda |year=2009 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-088462-9 |doi=10.1016/B978-012370626-3.00154-X |pages=89–115 }}</ref>

Mature females bear a ''marsupium'', or [[brood pouch (Peracarida)|brood pouch]], which holds her [[egg (biology)|eggs]] while they are [[fertilisation|fertilised]],<ref name="Wade"/> and until the young are ready to hatch.<ref name="TAFI"/> As a female ages, she produces more eggs in each brood. Mortality is around 25–50% for the eggs.<ref name="Wade"/> There are no [[larva]]l stages; the eggs hatch directly into a [[Juvenile (organism)|juvenile]] form, and [[sexual maturity]] is generally reached after 6 [[ecdysis|moults]].<ref name="Wade"/> Some species have been known to eat their own [[exuvia]]e after moulting<ref name="Wade"/>