Urophycis spp.

Marancik, Katrin E., Richardson, David E. & Konieczna, Małgorzata, 2020, Updated Morphological Descriptions of the Larval Stage of Urophycis (Family: Phycidae) from the Northeast United States Continental Shelf, Copeia 108 (1), pp. 83-90 : 87

Urophycis spp. (. 6 mm)

Table 2

Total larvae examined.— n ¼ 3,438; 5.5–45 mm SL.

Identification.— Larvae of Urophycis by 6–7 mm become difficult to identify using the traits available for smaller larvae. The dorsal pigment stretches from head to caudal fin. Ventral pigment is present for all species by approximately 10 mm. Total myomere counts overlap for these three species (45–52). A combination of abdominal vertebrae counts, second dorsal-fin ray counts, caudal-fin ray counts, and gill-raker counts can be helpful to separate species at size. 11 mm when these characters are fully formed ( Table 2; Markle, 1982; Comyns and Grant, 1993; Comyns and Bond, 2002; Fahay, 2007).