Marine Biology

, Volume 95, Issue 1, pp 145–152 | Cite as

Growth, dispersal, and identification of planktonic labrid and pomacentrid reef-fish larvae in the eastern Pacific Ocean

  • B. C. Victor
Article
Accepted:

Abstract

Planktonic larvae of six genera of labrid and pomacentrid reef fishes were captured in march 1985 in the eastern Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers from the nearest reefs. The larvae were identified to genus by fin-ray counts as well as by comparison of their larval otolith morphology with that of known species. The larval otolith morphologies of known species were derived from measurements of the larval otolith embedded within the otoliths of settled juveniles (as delineated by the daily otolith-increment marks corresponding to the late larval period). The body morphology and melanophore patterns of the eastern Pacific labird and pomacentrid larvae closely matched those of congeneric larvae described from other oceans. Growth rates of larvae less than about 70 d old were similar between taxa (from 0.13 to 0.19 mm d-1). After about 70 d in the plankton, labrid larvae grew much more slowly (0.06 mm d-1 in Xyrichtys sp.). Labrid larvae had long larval durations (up to 131 d in Xyrichtys sp.), while the larval lives of the pomacentrids appeared to be shorter and much less variable. Larvae of many different ages occurred within the same water mass, and young cohorts of larvae appeared continuously over the sampling period. Some larvae were as young as 21 d, indicating that reef-fish larvae are capable of rapid long-distance dispersal (at least 18 km d-1).

Keywords

Growth Rate Sampling Period Water Mass Reef Fish Young Cohort 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1987

Authors and Affiliations

  • B. C. Victor
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of California at Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraUSA
  2. 2.Marine Science InstituteUniversity of California at Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraUSA

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