TY - JOUR
T1 - Larval identification following metamorphosis in the slender brown moray Strophidon ui from the western North Pacific
AU - Tawa, Atsushi
AU - Kishimoto, Hirokazu
AU - Yoshimura, Taku
AU - Mochioka, Noritaka
N1 - Funding Information:
We are sincerely grateful to Captain K. Hayashi and the crew of the fishing boat Shinsei-maru as well as the Shimizu Fisheries Cooperative for their help with sampling leptocephali. S. Sugiyama, Y. Edo and H. Ohtaka, Department of Fisheries, School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, also assisted in collecting and maintaining leptocephali. We also thank the captains and crews of the R/V Kaiyo-maru, Japanese Fisheries Agency, and the R/V Hokko-maru, Fisheries Research Agency, for their efforts. Grateful thanks are also given to G. S. Hardy (Ngunguru, New Zealand) for his critical comments on the manuscript and great help with English. The study was supported in part by a grant from the Mikimoto Fund for Marine Ecology.
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - Leptocephalus larvae collected from the western North Pacific, and characterized by yellow head pigmentation and many myomeres, were identified as the slender brown moray Strophidon ui following observations of metamorphosis in an aquarium. The leptocephali had 184-196 total myomeres (84-90 predorsal, 116-122 preanal) and 95-102 last vertical blood vessel myomeres. A horizontally elongate group of irregular melanophores before and behind the eye formed a poorly defined band. Some irregular melanophores on the iris encircled the pupil, and minute melanophores occurred ventrally on the spinal cord and along the dorsal and anal fin bases. Yellow pigments were present in anterior and posterior regions adjacent to the eye in fresh specimens. It was possible to clearly distinguish the leptocephali of S. ui from six unassigned leptocephalus types and Gymnothorax minor reported previously from the same region, owing to the lower total myomere counts (106-142) in the latter. This is the second description of specifically identified muraenid leptocephali from the western North Pacific.
AB - Leptocephalus larvae collected from the western North Pacific, and characterized by yellow head pigmentation and many myomeres, were identified as the slender brown moray Strophidon ui following observations of metamorphosis in an aquarium. The leptocephali had 184-196 total myomeres (84-90 predorsal, 116-122 preanal) and 95-102 last vertical blood vessel myomeres. A horizontally elongate group of irregular melanophores before and behind the eye formed a poorly defined band. Some irregular melanophores on the iris encircled the pupil, and minute melanophores occurred ventrally on the spinal cord and along the dorsal and anal fin bases. Yellow pigments were present in anterior and posterior regions adjacent to the eye in fresh specimens. It was possible to clearly distinguish the leptocephali of S. ui from six unassigned leptocephalus types and Gymnothorax minor reported previously from the same region, owing to the lower total myomere counts (106-142) in the latter. This is the second description of specifically identified muraenid leptocephali from the western North Pacific.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84856303739
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84856303739#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1007/s10228-011-0240-4
DO - 10.1007/s10228-011-0240-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84856303739
SN - 1341-8998
VL - 59
SP - 8
EP - 13
JO - Ichthyological Research
JF - Ichthyological Research
IS - 1
ER -