Carangidae: E III A7

Scomberoides tol (Cuvier, 1832)

Needlescaled queenfish

*not confirmed

Egg: The big oil globule serves to separate this egg from all except the Mugilidae, with which it is easily confused LIIB9, LIIIA7 & LIIIB7. All mugilids have a clear yolk and the early larva has the oil globule in the stern. Carangids have a segmented yolk and the oil globule in the bow of the newly hatched larva. Note, however, that I am not sure this egg has a segmented yolk. On both occasions that it has been seen (A & A1), the yolk appeared clear, at least to a casual glance. Care needs to be taken to confirm when next found.

Larva: The newly hatched larva has the oil globule in the bow, and dark blotches along the notochord (B), which move to the dorsal edge of the notochord in the 2-day old larva (C). There are a few scattered pale chromatophore patched in the finfolds of the posterior half of the early larva, including the caudal finfold (B), but they do not persist in the 2-day larva.

Most mugilid larvae, at the pigmented eye stage (3-5 days post hatch) have some pigment in the dorsal finfold, absent from B above. It remains to be seen whether this is a reliable indicator of this species. The egg has only been recognised twice, once by a barcode from a larva hatched from an egg collected in March 2012, matching 4 adult fish collected locally (BOLD), the other on 28 February 2015. It remains to be seen whether extra vigilance will yield more of these eggs.