Carangidae: E III B4A

Megalaspis cordyla (Linnaeus, 1758).

Torpedo scad

Egg diameter in µm	Number of oil globules	Diameter of oil globule in µm	Yolk texture	Perivitelline space	Position of oil globule at hatch	Gut length   at eye- pigment stage	Myomeres
745 - 800	1	200-220	segmented	narrow	bow	54% of NL	26

Egg: This egg was only recorded twice in the DHM samples, and on both occasions the egg was not photographed, nor notes taken, so no image is available, and no description of the egg, although the relatively large size of the oil globule will always draw attention. Incubation is about 30 hours.

Larva: The NH larva has yellow pigment behind the eyes, and a solid band of yellow from mid-trunk to mid-tail (B), with the anus near the centre of the pigment band (B & B1, white arrow).  B: NH, C: 3 days, D: 4 days(26°C).The 13mmSL juvenile above, was collected by handnet off Park Rynie (sharing an Agalma (syphonophore) with a juvenile Alectis ciliaris). Barcoding has confirmed the identification (DSFSG166-10|ADC10_210.17 #7 in BOLD).

The egg was only separated from Pomadasys olivaceum (EIIIB4), by the size of the oil globule, and, post-hatch, that the larva had a gut length exceeding 50% of NL. The stringy horizontal lines of yellow pigment in the body, are also reminiscent of EIIIB4, but the oil globule is too big. Care must be taken not to confuse it with EIIIB6.

The egg was seen on two occasions, in February 1992 and January 1994, on each occasion as just a single egg. An extraordinary batch of 106 of these eggs was collected in the inshore sample off Park Rynie on 31 January 2011, from which 6 larvae were successfully barcoded, and they matched 6 M. cordyla adults collected locally (BOLD).