| Initially slender, becoming deep-bodied and highly compressed; gut sigmoid with terminal section deflected sharply ventrad; large head and jaws with relatively small oval eye; elongate conical choroid tissue pigmented at tip; large median finfold; Br2 photophores form at about 6.5 mm; Br1, Br2, upper Op the first to form at transformation.
Pigmentation:
Preflexion: by 3.0 mm, 1 at mid- postanal ventral margin, a pair on gut lateral to preanal arch, and a blotch embedded anterior to gut; 3 on midline of brain (posterior to cerebellum, posterior to optic lobes, and anterior to forebrain), and at tips of upper and lower jaws; by end of stage, 3 (on) at dorsal midline (1 opposing the blotch at postanal ventral margin, 1 above preanal arch of gut and 1 between these), a second at postanal ventral margin anterior to first, peppering on margin of dorsal and ventral finfold, upper jaw augmented, and one at lower lost.
Flexion: above nostril; embedded in otic region; peppering on pectoral fin blade; on head anterodorsal to pectoral fin base; beginning of series on each side of anal fin base; 1 on dorsal midline anterior to dorsal fin base and 1 at dorsal fin insertion; opposing postanal blotches form a heavy bar.
Postflexion: at nape; on posterior margin of orbit; on branchiostegal membrane; at gular region; on liver; a lateral gut series; on anal fin rays.
Sequence of fin development: caudal and pectorals, dorsal and anal, pelvics. |
