Résumé: The euryhaline shrimp Palaemonetes argentinus exemplifies an evolutionary transition from brackish to freshwater habitats that requires adequate osmoregulatory capacities. Hyperosmoregulation is functional at hatching and it likely begins during the embryonic phase allowing this species to develop entirely in fresh water. Here, we investigated the Na+/K+-ATPase alpha-subunit gene (nka-alpha) expression using quantitative real-time PCR and localized Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) in ion-transporting epithelia through immunofluorescence microscopy. We reared shrimps from spawning to juvenile stages at two salinities (1, 15 aEuro degrees) and maintained adults for 3 weeks at three salinity treatments (1, 15, 25 aEuro degrees). nka-alpha gene expression was measured in: (1) embryos at an early (SI), intermediate (SII) and late (SIII) stage of embryonic development; (2) newly hatched larvae (Zoea I, ZI); and (3) isolated gill tissue of adults. The nka-alpha expression was low in SI and SII embryos and reached maximum levels prior to hatching (SIII), which were similar to expression levels detected in the ZI. The nka-alpha expression in SIII and ZI was highest at 15 aEuro degrees, whereas salinity did not affect expression in earlier embryos. In SIII, in ZI and in a later zoeal stage ZIV, NKA was localized in epithelial cells of pleurae, in the inner-side epithelium of branchiostegite and in the antennal glands. Gills appeared in the ZIV but NKA immunolabeling of the cells of the gill shaft occurred in a subsequent developmental larval stage, the decapodid. Extrabranchial organs constitute the main site of osmoregulation in early ontogenetic stages of this freshwater shrimp.