Abstract
Eggs and early larvae (5.8–34.2 mm SL) of the snake eel,Pisodonophis cruentifer (Ophichthidae) are illustrated and described for the first time. The eggs are distinguished by their large size (>2 mm), large perivitelline space, segmented yolk, one to many oil globules, and pigmentation on late stage embryos. The larvae are distinguished most readily by myomere counts (145–153) and the number (8–9) and location of gut pigment patches.Leptocephalus mucronatus Eigenmann and Kennedy (1902) is synonymized withP. cruentifer.
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Contribution No. 612, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062.
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Richardson, S.L. Eggs and larvae of the ophichthid eel,Pisodonophis cruentifer, from the Chesapeake Bight, Western North Atlantic. Chesapeake Science 15, 151–154 (1974). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351031
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351031