Description

SINGLE PAPER

Volume 19, Issue 2 – 26 April 2013

Sara Ahmadi, Mojgan Khodadadi, Ammar Salehi Farsani, Bahareh Samadi Kuchaksaraei and Hamed Mousavi-Sabet: Morphological development and growth of Bunni, Mesopota­michthys sharpeyi (Günther, 1874), larvae reared in the laboratory, pp. 99-108

Abstract
The early development of the endemic cyprinid, Bunni Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi (Günther, 1874) larvae has been determined according to morphological changes and total length, standard length, head length, thickness of larvae, eye diameter and snout length measurements. The results showed that the initial period of Bunni larval life can be divided into two phases: early stages dependent upon endogenous nutrient sources, and a second phase of stages dependent upon exogenous food sources. In the first three days of larvae development there was a gradual yolk sac reduction after which there was a switch to exogenous feeding. From the fourth to eleventh day, the final development of heart, gill, air bladder, fins and intestine were observed. The newly hatched larvae and the fifteen day old larvae were 6.26±0.14 and 8.35±0.17 mm in mean total length (TL), respectively. The mouth opened 2-4 days after hatching (DAH). The larvae started to swim actively within 2-3 days and the yolk sac had been totally absorbed at 4-5 DAH. Notochord flexion began at 11 DAH. Compare to other cyprinids, the larval development of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi is similar to other Meso­pota­michthys species.