Early life history of the Argentine sea bass Acanthistius patachonicus (Jenyns, 1840) (Pisces: Serranidae)

VILLANUEVA GOMILA, GABRIELA LUJAN; EHRLICH, MARTÍN DAVID; VENERUS, LEONARDO ARIEL

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 line and spear fishing. The present 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 yolk-sac 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 showed great similarity with those from the Koester A. sebastoides and the western wirrah A. serratus, the other two species of Acanthistius whose larval development was described. Body shape and head in A. patachonicus were moderate, while its preanal length was long. The characteristic head spination pattern: a few conspicuous, smooth spines distributed mainly in the preopercle and opercle, and two posttemporal spines allowed to describe the whole developmental series and to link the early stages to the adults.