Alternate Title
Reproductive Biology and Developmental Osteology of the Florida Blenny, Chasmodes saburrae (Perciformes: Blenniidae)
Abstract
Reproductive biology and larval development of the Florida blenny, Chasmodes saburrae, are described and figured; notes on life history are given. Adults spawn in the field from early March until early November with peak spawning in April/May and September. Nests, most often found in oyster shells, contain about 120 eggs/cm2. Eggs average 0.82 mm diameter and hatch in six days at 27° C. Larvae are planktonic and 3.2-3.7 mm SL at hatching. Laboratory-reared larvae settle to the bottom in 21 days. The skeleton develops throughout larval and early juvenile stages. Adult lateral ethmoids are probably the result of fusion between two ossifications. The maxillae and premaxillae are partially resorbed during development. Some larval teeth are resorbed, while others transform into adult-type teeth. The ural centrum fuses with the dorsal and ventral hypural plates as they ossify. While hypurals 1-4 are difficult to distinguish during development, hypural 5 is nearly separate as cartilage before it fuses with the hypural plate.
Recommended Citation
Peters, K. M.
1981.
Reproductive Biology and Developmental Osteology of the Florida Blenny, Chasmodes saburrae (Perciformes: Blenniidae).
Northeast Gulf Science
4
(2).
Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol4/iss2/2