CASTLE: NOTACANTHIFORMES, ANGUILLIFORMES 



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MYROPHINAE 



1 Myrophis punctalus 



2 M. plumbeus 



3 Ahlia egmontis 



u Pseudomyrophis nimius 

 OPHICHTHINI 



5 Aplatophis chauliodus 



6 Ophichthus rex 



7 O. ocellalus 



8 O. gomesi 



9 O. cruentifer 



10 O. melanoporus 



11 Echiophis mordax 



12 Myrichthys oculatus 



13 M. acuminatus 



SPHAGEBRANCHINI 



u Ichthyapus ophloneus 



15 Apterichtus ansp 



16 ^. kendalh 



17 Stictorhinus potamius 

 CALLECHELYINI 



18 Letharchus velifer 



19 Callechelys muraena 



20 C, springer! 



21 C. perryae 



BASCANICHTHYINI 



22 Carolophia loxochila 



23 Bascanichthys scuticans 

 2'- 6. bascanium 



25 Gordiichthys irrelitus 



26 Phaenomonas longissimus 



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 220 



MEAN TOTAL VERTEBRAEIADULTS) MYOMERESO-ARVAE) 



Fig. 33. Position of kidney in adults and larvae of 26 species of Western Atlantic Ophichthidae; black circles adults, open circles larvae. 

 Adults of not all species shown. 



The gill opening is anteroventral to the pectoral base and any 

 movement to take up an adult ventral position (Synaphobran- 

 choidea, Ophichthidae) does not occur until very late in meta- 

 morphosis. 



Pectoral fins are present as fleshy tabs in all very early lep- 

 tocephali. If absent or much reduced in the post-metamorphic 

 stage, the loss does not occur until late in larval life or at meta- 

 morphosis (Muraenidae, Ophichthidae, the muraenesocid Gav- 

 laliccps). Actinotrichia do not develop until late in the eury- 

 odontic stage and lepidotrichia not until metamorphosis. The 

 range is 8-22 among the species of eels. 



Median fins are first visible as undtflferentiated folds of tissue 

 and remain so until the beginning of the euryodontic stage. The 

 dorsal and anal fin skeletons begin to develop posteriorly first, 

 and then progressively forwards, the anal more rapidly than the 

 dorsal. Pterygiophores and associated muscle blocks appear be- 

 fore the actinotrichia but lepidotrichia do not complete devel- 

 opment until metamorphosis is complete. The anal fin supports 

 are usually closely packed before the anus moves forwards dur- 

 ing metamorphosis. The dorsal origin is less easy to define until 

 late in the euryodontic stage and may not take up its final po- 

 sition until well into metamorphosis. In the muraenids Anar- 



