Larval development and allometric growth of the black-faced blenny Tripterygion delaisi

Larval development and allometric growth patterns of the black-faced blenny Tripterygion delaisi are described from a larval series (body length, L-B = 3.30-12.10 mm) caught by light traps at the Arrabida Marine Park, Portugal. Larvae of T. delaisi possess distinctive morphometric and meristic chara...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Fish Biology
Main Authors: Solomon, F. N., Rodrigues, D., Gonçalves, E. J., Serrão, E. A., Borges, R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017
Subjects:
Central North-Atlantic
Fish Larvae
Ontogenic development
Rocky shore
Reef fish
Pisces
Patterns
Assemblages
Blenniidae
Sea
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/11534
https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13286
Description
Summary:Larval development and allometric growth patterns of the black-faced blenny Tripterygion delaisi are described from a larval series (body length, L-B = 3.30-12.10 mm) caught by light traps at the Arrabida Marine Park, Portugal. Larvae of T. delaisi possess distinctive morphometric and meristic characteristics which can be used to identify this species from related taxa. Pigmentation is sparse but characteristic, consisting of pigmented eyes, gas bladder pigmentation in the dorsal region, anal pigmentation and a row of regularly spaced postanal ventral melanophores. This pattern is present from as early as the yolk-sac stage and persists throughout all stages with just the addition of head and caudal pigmentation during the flexion and postflexion stages, respectively. The majority of fin development (with the exception of the caudal fin), occurs in the later stages of development. Myomere counts range between 37 and 45 for all stages. Growth is allometric during larval development. When inflexion points of growth were detected, growth was found to be biphasic with the inflexion points occurring within a very narrow range of L-B (8.70-8.90 mm) close to the mean +/- S.D. (9.44 +/- 1.48 mm LB) of postflexion larvae. Considering allometric growth patterns and ontogenetic descriptions together, the first developmental phase includes the preflexion and flexion stage larvae, while the second phase characterises the postflexion larvae prior to the transition from larvae to juvenile. (C) 2017 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles MARES; Erasmus Mundus [FPA 2011-0016]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) [POCTI/MAR/57934/2004, PTDC/MAR/115226/2009, PTDC/MAR-EST/4356/2012, 331/94, PEST-OE/MAR/UI0331/2011, UID/MAR/04292/2013, Multi/04326/2013] info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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