Ammodytes immaculatus, a New Species of Sand-Eel Found in European Seas

Abstract

A POST-LARVAL sand-eel with a mean vertebral number of 72.0 occurs commonly in the macro-plankton of the Celtic Sea and Plymouth area. Described as Ammodytes species IV, it was not attributable to a known adult, and the existence of another species of the family Ammodytidæ was in consequence anticipated¹. An adult Ammodytes with a corresponding vertebral number has recently been identified in the Plymouth area. In appearance it is very similar to Ammodytes lanceolatus Lesauvage 1825, with a pair of vomerine ‘teeth’ in the adult and a non-protrusible upper jaw. The vertebral number of this adult and of the post-larval Ammodytes species IV is widely separated from that of the true A. lanceolatus from this and other areas.