Abstract. The larval develop- 

 ment of Sillaginodes punctata, 

 Sillago bassensis, and Sillago 

 schomburgkii is described based on 

 both field-collected and laboratory- 

 reared material. Larvae of the 

 three species can be separated 

 based on a combination of pigment 

 and meristic characters, including 

 extent and appearance of dorsal 

 midline pigment, lateral pigment 

 on the tail, presence or absence of 

 pigment above the notochord tip, 

 myomere number, extent and tim- 

 ing of gut coiling, and size at flex- 

 ion. The most useful meristic char- 

 acter across the range of specimens 

 was number of myomeres. Sillagi- 

 nodes punctata with 42-45 myo- 

 meres are easily distinguished 

 from Sillago schomburgkii with 

 36-38, and from S. bassensis with 

 32-35. The timing of gut coiling 

 and its subsequent effect on anus 

 position differed both among the 

 three species examined here and 

 from that previously reported for 

 sillaginid larvae in general. Timing 

 of gut coiling and extent of anus 

 migration are not useful characters 

 for the identification of temperate 

 Australian sillaginids at the fam- 

 ily level but are useful on a specific 

 level. Possible implications of the 

 development of the gut to diet are 

 discussed. 



Based on the presence of larvae, 

 all three species spawn in South 

 Australian waters. No larvae of a 

 fourth sillaginid species, S. flin- 

 dersi, were found during the study. 

 South Australia is the western dis- 

 tributional limit for S. flindersi and 

 it does not appear to spawn in the 

 area. 



Larval development of King George 

 whiting, Sillaginodes punctata, 

 school whiting, Sillago bassensis, 

 and yellow fin whiting, 

 Sillago schomburgkii 

 (Percoidei: Sillaginidae), from 

 South Australian waters 



Barry D. Bruce 



South Australian Department of Fisheries 

 GPO Box 1625. Adelaide. South Australia 5001 



Present address. CSIRO Division of Fisheries, 



GPO Box 1 538. Hobart. Tasmania. Australia 700 1 



Manuscript accepted 15 June 1994. 

 Fishery Bulletin 93:27-43 (1995). 



The perciform family Sillaginidae 

 (whiting and sand smelts) consists 

 of three genera, three subgenera, 

 and thirty-one species of small to 

 moderately sized fishes found pri- 

 marily in shallow coastal waters of 

 the Indo-Pacific (McKay, 1992). 

 Sillaginids are highly valued food 

 fishes in many tropical and temper- 

 ate waters. The Sillaginidae are re- 

 lated to the Percidae, Sciaenidae, 

 and, to a lesser extent, the Haemu- 

 lidae (McKay, 1985) although their 

 sister group is yet to be determined 

 (McKay, 1992). The most speciose of 

 the three sillaginid genera (Sillago) 

 includes twenty-nine species. The 

 remaining two genera, Sillaginodes 

 and Sillaginopsis, are monotypic. The 

 taxonomy of the family is approach- 

 ing stability; only a few species re- 

 main undescribed (McKay, 1992). 



Two genera and thirteen species 

 of sillaginids are found in Austra- 

 lian waters. Four species inhabit 

 the waters off South Australia: the 

 King George or spotted whiting, 

 Sillaginodes punctata; yellow fin 

 whiting, Sillago schomburgkii; 

 western school whiting, Sillago 

 bassensis; and eastern school whit- 

 ing, Sillago flindersii. The latter 

 two species were, until recently, con- 



sidered subspecies of S. bassensis 

 (McKay, 1992). All four species are 

 widely distributed in southern Aus- 

 tralia and form the basis for impor- 

 tant commercial fisheries across 

 their range (McKay, 1985; Kailola 

 et al., 1993; May and Maxwell 1 ). 



The adult and juvenile biology of 

 each of the four species has previ- 

 ously been documented by several 

 authors (Scott, 1954; Gilmour, 1969; 

 Lennanton, 1969; Robertson, 1977; 

 Weng, 1983, 1986; Burchmore et al., 

 1988; Jones 2 ; Jones et al. 3 ), but very 

 little is known of their early life his- 

 tory and neither the eggs nor the 

 larvae of any of the four species 

 have previously been described. 



In 1986, the South Australian 

 Department of Fisheries began an 

 ichthyoplankton program to inves- 



1 May, J. L., and J. G. H. Maxwell. 1986. 

 Field guide to trawl fish from temperate 

 waters of Australia. CSIRO Division of 

 Fisheries Res., Hobart, Tasmania, 492 p. 



2 Jones, G. K. 1979. Biological investigations 

 on the marine scale fishery in South Aus- 

 tralia. South Australian Dep. Agric. and 

 Fisheries Rep., 72 p. 



3 Jones, G. K., D. A. Hall, K. L. Hill, and A. 

 J. Stamford. 1989. The South Australian 

 marine scale fishery: stock assessment, 

 economics, management. South Australian 

 Dep. Fisheries Green Paper, 186 p. 



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