Larvae and juveniles of two Brotula species (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae) collected from the Northwest Pacific Ocean
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Larvae and juveniles of two Brotula species (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae) collected from the Northwest Pacific Ocean Kaito Mizumachi1,2 · Hiromitsu Endo1 Received: 28 June 2019 / Revised: 15 February 2020 / Accepted: 7 April 2020 © The Ichthyological Society of Japan 2020
Abstract Larva and juveniles belonging to two ophidiid species of the genus Brotula Cuvier 1829, Brotula sp. 1 [3 specimens, 14.2, 50.7, and 55.7 mm in standard length (SL)] and Brotula sp. 2 (1 specimen, 47.8 mm SL), were collected from the Northwest Pacific Ocean off the Okinawa, Izu (Aoga-shima Island and Miyake-jima Island), and Ogasawara Islands, Japan. Although the counts and proportions of both species agree with the documented ranges of Brotula multibarbata Temminck and Schlegel 1846 known from Japan, the larva and juveniles are clearly different from each other by the following combination of characters: counts of dorsal-fin rays [Brotula sp. 1, 122–126 (about 130 in the larva) vs. Brotula sp. 2, 118], anal-fin rays [94–101 (106) vs. 85], caudal-fin rays (11 vs. 9), and vertebrae (14 + 45–46 = 59–60 vs. 16 + 42 = 58); position of dorsal-fin origin [above or posterior to pectoral-fin base (above 6th vertebra) vs. anterior to pectoral-fin base (above 3rd vertebra)]; predorsal length (56.5–59.8% vs. 51.0% of preanal-fin length); blackish spots behind eye (present vs. absent); brown spots on body and vertical fins (present vs. absent); size of pectoral fin [small, not reaching anus (13.5–13.7% of SL) vs. large, reaching anus (28.3% of SL)]; and length between dorsal- and anal-fin origins (22.7–24.6% vs. 31.3% of SL). The occurrence of the larva and juveniles suggests that “B. multibarbata” known from Japan represents two species: Brotula sp. 1 and Brotula sp. 2 are probably B. multibarbata and Brotula formosae Jordan and Evermann 1902, respectively; the former is currently regarded as the senior synonym of the latter. In addition, this study describes for the first time the living coloration of Brotula larva. Keywords Brotula formosae · Brotula multibarbata · Cusk-eel · Early life history · Northwest Pacific
Introduction
This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as A53F2F30-6467-41E2-A3E8-A35D6 F1C2890. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. * Kaito Mizumachi [email protected] Hiromitsu Endo endoh@kochi‑u.ac.jp 1
Laboratory of Marine Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Kochi University, 2‑5‑1 Akebono‑cho, Kochi 780‑8520, Japan
Present Address: Tokyo Kyuei Co., Ltd., 6906‑10 Shiba, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333‑0866, Japan
2
Brotula Cuvier 1829, one of the cusk-eel genera distributed widely from tropical to subtropical waters of three oceans, is mainly characterized by having 12 barbels on the snout and chin, eight branchiostegal rays, and two pelvic-fin rays (Nielsen et al. 1999). In a taxonomic review of the genus by Hubbs (1944), three species,
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