Bramidae: L II A1A

Taractichthys longipinnis (Lowe, 1843).

Bigscale pomfret

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
1345-1440	1	350-360	clear	narrow	stern	28% of NL	46

Egg: On one of the 4 encounters with this egg, its yolk was described as misty. On three occasions no pigment was seen on the developing embryo, yolk or oil globule, but an advanced embryo had 4 white spots from trunk to tail, and white on the notochord tip and oil globule (A1). The yolk has a rough surface, which can give the appearance of segmentation. One egg took about 55 hours to hatch, assuming evening spawning (23°C).

Larva: The newly hatched larva (B) has a characteristic set of white pigment blotches, including a half-moon in the tail, which instantly identifies this larva. At 2 days, the larva developed the round, pigmented head of a bramid (C). B: 6 hours PH, C: 2 days (26°C).

This species has been identified as T. longipinnis, based on DNA barcoding sequence comparison with adults in BOLD. According to Smith (1986) this species does not occur in the Indian Ocean, and is confused with T. steindachneri (Döderlein 1883). Identification is based on only one larval sequence (under the larval code F II A2 of 22/10/2005I), which clusters with other bramids, including Brama brama, B. orcini and Pterycombus petersi in my barcode dendrogram. Identification needs to be confirmed when more larvae become available.

This egg has only been seen off Park Rynie on 4 occasions, one each in the months of September to November, and most recently in January 2007, each as a single egg. Thus no graphics is provided.