Early life history of the Argentine sea bass Acanthistius patachonicus (Pisces: Serranidae)

VILLANUEVA GOMILA, LUJÁN; MARTÍN DAVID EHRLICH; LEONARDO ARIEL VENERUS

FISHERY BULLETIN

NATL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE SCIENTIFIC PUBL OFFICE

Lugar: US; Año: 2015 vol. 113 p. 456 - 467

0090-0656

The Argentine sea bass Acanthistius patachonicus is one of the most conspicuous and abundant species in the rocky-reef fish assemblage from Northern Patagonia, which sustains important recreational and commercial activities like scuba diving, and hook-and-line and spear fishing. This study describes the morphology of eggs, larvae and posttransition juveniles of A. patachonicus, and summarises abundance and distribution data for larvae collected on the Argentine shelf (between ~40°S and 44°S). Eggs and yolksac larvae came from an in vitro fertilization experiment. Larger larvae distinguished by some relevant morphological features which included the development of the opercular complex and head spination, meristics, and the pigmentation pattern. The early stages of A. patachonicus are similar to those of the Koester (A. sebastoides) and of the western wirrah (A. serratus), the other two species of Acanthistius whose larval development was described. Body and head in A. patachonicus were moderate, while its preanal length was long. The particular head spination pattern of A. patachonicus larvae: a few conspicuous, smooth spines mainly on the preopercle and opercle, and two posttemporal spines, was useful to differentiate this species and therefore made it possible to describe the whole developmental series and to link the early stages to the adults.