| some dorsal fin rays very elongated |
| other |
|
| some dorsal fin rays very elongated |
| |
| |
|
| several different spines |
several different spines |
| ventral row |
| no other melanophores |
| melanophores on head + trunk |
| no rows |
| no other melanophores |
| melanophores on head + trunk |
| pigmented |
unpigmented |
| normal without melanophores |
| normal (i.e. small or absent) without melanophores |
| Large rostrum with long single terminal spine after about 2 mm; very long spines at angle of preopercle and on supraoccipital crest after 1.8-2.2 mm; anal fin rays 8-9 (present by postflexion stage; ray 1 becomes spine IV by about 14 mm); preanal myomeres 7-8 (preflexion stage) or 14 (postflexion stage), 26 total; pigment on last half of tail at least through preflexion stage; rostrum and pelvic fins unpigmented.
Pigmentation:
Preflexion-postflexion: few over midbrain beginning at about 2.4 mm, mainly along cranial ridges, increases gradually; internally over (after about 2.4 mm) and under hindbrain, extending dorsally over spinal cord anteriorly; internally above, below and along vertebral column in postflexion stage; under opercle in postflexion stage; externally on trunk in postflexion stage, spreading caudad to level of DVII or VIII by end of stage; gut completely pigmented except end of hindgut; few posteriorly on ventral margin and above and below notochord tip, decreasing to 0-3 by about 6 mm.
Sequence of fin development: caudal, dorsal and anal and pelvics, pectorals. |
