Emmelichthyidae: E III A9

Emmelichthys struhsakeri Heemstra & Randall, 1977.

Egg diameter in µm	Number of oil globules	Diameter of oil globule in µm	Yolk texture	Perivitelline space	Position of oil globule at hatch	Gut length   at eye- pigment stage	Myomeres
745-820	1	170-190	segmented	narrow	bow	44% of NL	25-26

Egg: The yolk is lightly segmented, and has a granulated surface when viewed under alternate black/white backgrounds. Fine black pigment spots on the embryo, are not dense, and there are none on the oil globule. No yellow pigment was seen in the egg. Incubation is about 26 hours.

Larva: The NH larva (B) has a line of fine, stellate black dots along the ventral edge of the notochord (B). At 4 days, the black pigment has consolidated over the gut (C), but in some specimens, forms one or more patches posterior to the anus (C, upper specimen). B & B1: 1 day, C & C1: 4 days (24-25°C).

This species shows strong affinities to EIIIA8, but the oil globule is smaller. It also shows certain similarities with KIIIA9, except for the segmented yolk. A group of 17 larvae from these eggs, from 5 different sample dates, listed as KIIIA9 but noted as having a segmented yolk, and, therefore, which should have been assigned to EIIIA9, have matched E. struhsakeri in BOLD. Given the known distribution of E. struhsakeri this seems an unlikely match. Yet they do not match the sequence of a single adult E. nitidus collected locally, but are grouped alongside it and the closely related Plagiogeneion rubiginosum, in the barcode dendrogram (BOLD).

This egg has only been seen off Park Rynie on 7 occasions, but when present, has been found in fairly large numbers, all in offshore samples. No particular pattern of spawning is apparent from the sparse data (blue graph). The egg was not seen in the DHM samples.