New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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EARLY LIFE HISTORY OF THE CONGRID EELS GNATHOPHIS HABENATUS AND G. INCOGNITOS IN NEW ZEALAND WATERS

P. H. J. Castle

Department of Zoology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

D. A. Robertson

Fisheries Research Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract Larvae (leptocephali) of Gnathophis habenatus (Richardson, 1848) and G. incognitas Castle, 1963 occur off Castlepoint throughout most of the year (not sampled December - February), In general they are smallest in late summer (March) and ilargest in mid-spring (October - November), with metamorphosis to the juvenile in early summer of the year of spawning. The two species therefore have a larval life of approximately 10 months. The early life of these two species in Australian waters, and of G. capensis (Kaup) off southern Africa, agrees well with these observations. Eel eggs collected in the East Cape region of New Zealand and tentatively identified as those of Gnathophis confirm the spawning times (March-April) suggested by the sizes of leptocephali.

N.Z. Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 8 (1): 95-110
(Received for publication 3 April 1973)

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1067K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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