Scombridae: L II A4A

Scomberomorus plurilineatus Fourmanior, 1966

Queen mackerel

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
1250-1320	1	385-410	clear	narrow	stern	40% of NL	ca 45

Egg: The oil globule is pale amber. In the developing embryo, black pigment is arranged in a pair of rings on the nose, yellow-brown behind the eyes (mix of black and yellow), a black blotch behind each otic capsule, and single black blotches mid-body and mid-tail (A). A big yellow blotch links the embryo to the oil globule. The striking feature is the 3 pairs of black in the head section, when viewed on a white background (A1). Incubation is 45-50 hours.

Larva: Within 24 hours of hatching, most pigment is lost, but for the yellow patches behind the eyes and on the oil globule, and black on the nose, front edge of the yolk and in the caudal finfold (C). At 3 days little pigment is apparent (D). B: NH, C: 1 day, D: 3 days (25°C).

This egg and larva are similar to Scomber japonicus (LIIA7). The barcode of the larva hatched from an egg collected on 23 December 2009 has matched 4 adult Scomberomorus plurilineatus collected locally. Two further larvae, from eggs collected in February 2011, have provided confirming sequences(BOLD).

Linked samples	Offshore	Inshore
Eggs	14	13
Hits	6	10

These eggs have only been seen in the three summer months of January to March (blue graph). They have clearly become more frequent in the latter half of the study period. The Park Rynie linked samples showed about equal eggs in offshore and inshore samples, indicating spawning inside the 30m contour. See Section 7.3 and Table 1 of the Introductory Notes, for more information on the linked samples.