Pinguipdidae: L III F7

Parapercis maculata (Bloch & Schneider 1801), & Parapercis schauinslandii (Steindachner, 1900)

Harlequin sandperch .................................................Redspotted sandperch

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
670-725	1	145	clear	narrow	stern	30% of NL	28-30

.

Egg: This egg was consistently seen as depicted in A, with seven patches of yellow on the embryo, five in pairs from nose to oil globule, and 2 blotches in the tail. Sometimes only the first three are in pairs (B). Black pigment is seen under the yellow on a white background. The oil globule is clear. Incubation is 24-26 hours. Spawning seems to be confined to evening.

Larva: As soon as the yolksac is reduced, the slim shape of the larva is apparent (C). At two days the dorsal and ventral finfolds have formed a dense edge (D, black arrows), within which there are a few spiny serrations dorsally in the area of the posterior black arrow, and ventrally, just astern of the anus (D, white arrow). By day 4, the midtail blotch has disappeared, and the only yellow pigment is in the head and thorax (F).  B: NH, C: 36 hours, D: 2 days, E: 3 days, F: 4 days (23°C).

All attempts to rear this larva, failed.  An August 2010 larva, labelled as from this egg, was sequenced, but it matched Polyamblyodon gibbosum adults. This is an error as sparids have lower myomere counts. A similar error was made with a batch of KIIIB3A (lethrinid) eggs collected in March 2008, which have along with 2 LIIIF7 eggs, matched the barcode of 3 adult Parapercis maculata (BOLD). The barcode sequence of another larva from an egg collected in February 2011 has matched 2 adult Parapercis schauinslandii. These larvae, at 4 days, are nondescript, without the rich chromatophore pattern of Parapercis xanthozona (LIIIE1A) and P. robinsoni (LIIIE1), and care is needed, particularly via the myomere count, to avoid confusing them with sparids and lethrinids. Identification remains tentative pending further larval sequences.

Linked samples	Offshore	Inshore
Eggs	131	173
Hits	49	62

This species had quite a long spawning period through winter and spring off Park Rynie (blue graph). It was only seen twice in the DHM samples, during May and November. Less abundant in samples off Park Rynie in the past few years, but then peaked in 2011 (white graph). The Park Rynie linked samples showed slightly more eggs in the inshore samples (57%), suggesting spawning is around the 20m contour. See Section 7.3 and Table 1 of the Introductory Notes, for more information on the linked samples.