Paralichthyidae: L III C3

Pseudorhombus sp

Ringed flounder

 

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

840-865

1

120-145

clear

 narrow

stern

46% of NL

30+

 

Egg: This egg has been seen so seldom, and it is so like KIIIA4 and LIIIC9, in size of egg and oil globule, that it has not been recognised as different, until hatched. Thus it has not yet been photographed.  The egg and embryo have an amber hue, but the oil globule is clear. Pale yellow pigment develops on the late embryo. There is no yellow pigment on the yolk (compare with LIIIC9). Incubation is about 30 hours.

Larva: The pattern of yellow pigment, elongate body, moderate gut length and high myomere count, set the 1-day larva apart from all except LIIIC9, but the latter has a more even spread of earlier developing finfold pigment. B: 1 day, C: 3 days (24°C).

The similarity to LIIIC9 suggested this was a Pseudorhombus, and the larva B1 of LIIIC9 might be the early larva of this species. A larva hatched from an egg collected off Park Rynie in November 2010, catalogued as LIIIC3, has matched P. elevatus adults collected locally, but an egg collected in the Durban Harbour mouth in October 2005, catalogued as LIIIE9, has also matched adult P. elevatus (BOLD). For this reason , this page has not been assigned a species name, and must await further larval barcodes. P. elevatus is tentatively assigned to LIIIE9.

d

The few collections made of this egg point to a spring spawning season (blue graph). It was also seen twice in the DHM samples, in spring and early summer (green graph). Only 17 eggs have been seen in linked samples, of which, 16 were in offshore samples.