Creediidae: M III A7

Limnichthys nitidus Smith, 1958

Sand submarine

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
700-790	multiple	NA	clear	narrow	stern	59% of NL	ca 45

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Egg: In this size range, this is the only egg seen off Park Rynie, that has the oil globules clustered against the gut of the embryo (A) like a bunch of pale amber grapes. There are about 5 blotches of pale yellow-white pigment from nose to anus, but the tail has two continuous lines of yellow dots which converge at the tip of the notochord. Incubation is 24-30 hours.

Larva: The 1-day larva is elongate, with a moderately long gut and prominent white pigment patches on the finfold edges (C). The caudal finfold pigment is unusual (C). Both the 2-day and 4-day larvae have this extending to a ring of pigment edging the caudal finfold (D & E).  C: 1 day, D: 2 days, E: 4 days (23°C).

Attempts to rear this egg were unsuccessful. Two hatched larvae have been barcoded, and they match 6 locally collected adult Limnichthys nitidus (BOLD).

Linked samples	Offshore	Inshore
Eggs	197	349
Hits	76	165

This species spawns all year round, but the eggs are never seen in big numbers (blue graph). The eggs have remained fairly constant off Park Rynie over the study period (white graph). It was only seen twice in the DHM samples, in June and July. The Park Rynie linked samples had the majority of these eggs inshore (64%), indicating spawning in 20m water depth, although one of the barcoded adults was collected at 55m. See Section 7.3 and Table 1 of the Introductory Notes, for more information on the linked samples.