MILLER and SUMIDA: DEVELOPMENT OF CARANX MATE 



SUMMARY 



1. Omaka eggs were pelagic and spherical 

 with a single oil droplet and segmented yolk. 

 The diameter was about 700-740 fi. 



2. Egg development occurred in three distin- 

 guishable stages: early — fertilization to blasto- 

 pore closure; middle — to tail flexure; and late — 

 to hatching. Respective duration times at 24.5°C 

 were 11-12 hours, 11-12 hours, and 0.5-1 hour. 



3. Yolk sac larvae hatched at a length of 1.3- 

 1.7 mm with the oil globule positioned forward 

 in the yolk sac. 



4. By the fourth day (SL = 2.6 mm), the 

 eyes were pigmented, the yolk and oil globule 

 absorbed, and the mouth functional. 



5. Fin development (first appearance of lepido- 

 trichia) occurred in the order: caudal (3.4 mm); 

 pectoral (5.4 mm); anal and soft dorsal (5.4-5.5 

 mm); spiny dorsal (5.8 mm); and pelvic (6.2 mm). 



6. Unlike many carangid larvae, omaka did 

 not develop a serrated crest behind the head. 



7. Values for ratios of body proportions to 

 standard length were: head length, 0.3477; eye 

 diameter, 0.1266; snout-to-anus length, 0.5347; 

 body depth, 0.4246. Only the body depth/SL 

 ratio was useful in separating omaka from jack 

 mackerel and certain other Hawaiian carangid 

 larvae. 



8. The growth of our cultured omaka after 

 day 6 was adequately described by a straight line 

 with slope 0.44. Before day 6, growth was ex- 

 tremely variable, averaging about 0.35 mm/day. 



9. Of primary use in separating omaka from 

 jack mackerel larvae (the only other similarly 

 described carangid larva) were pigment pattern, 

 the absence of a serrated dorsal ridge behind the 

 head, and the difference in the ratios of body depth 

 to standard length. 



10. Significant decreases in size (up to 33%) 

 and pigmentation of larvae occurred upon preser- 

 vation. Both of these effects decreased with age 

 of larvae. 



11. Although based on larvae reared in the 

 laboratory, our data relating growth and develop- 

 ment to time would be expected to simulate those 

 from natural tropical habitats, especially the data 

 for fish eggs and early larva. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Throughout the paper reference is made to the 



excellent paper by Ahlstrom and Ball (1954), 

 describing the eggs and larvae of the jack 

 mackerel (T. symmetricus). The authors acknowl- 

 edge a debt to Ahlstrom and Ball for their 

 example. Many of their descriptive techniques 

 were used by us, and, in our opinion, should 

 be considered a standard for all larval fish 

 descriptions. Larval fish taxonomy suffers greatly 

 from dissimilarities among descriptive tech- 

 niques. Thanks are also extended to David 

 Hashimoto, Senior Technician at the Hawaii 

 Institute of Marine Biology, for rearing the 

 larvae. This research was, in part, supported by 

 University of Hawaii Sea Grant No. GH-93. 

 (UNIHI-SEAGRANT-JC-74-02.) 



LITERATURE CITED 



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Berry. F. H. 



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Farris, D. a. 



1959. A change in the early growth rates of four larval 

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