Life history and morphology of Eel Larvae in the Gulf of Guinea of western Africa: revisiting Jacques Blache’s research (1960–1977) 40 years later

43 Years after H.G. Moser’s Seminal “Morphological and Functional Aspects of Marine Fish Larvae”: The Commonalities of Leptocephali and Larvae of Other Marine Teleosts

“…Hoplunnis punctata, with many large lateral spots and smaller ventrolateral spots. Modified from Blache [11] and Miller and Robinet [54].…”

“…Examples of body shape and pigment variations of species of leptocephali from the WNA from Smith [12] are shown (Figure S2). Then, highly detailed line drawings modified from Blache [11] and Miller and Robinet [54] of large and small leptocephali are shown (Figures 4 and S3), which illustrate the pigment variations and vertical blood vessel positions of several families. For comparisons, illustrations from Castle [9] show many more types of body locations, pigmentation, rostral filaments, etc.…”

“…The general diversity in pigmentation of leptocephali in the WNA is clearly documented by Smith [12] (e.g., Figure S2) and in more extensive detail in each family chapter in Böhlke [13], such as Smith [82]. Blache [11] (reexamined by Miller and Robinet [54]; Figures 4 and S3) presented many highly detailed illustrations of the species of leptocephali from the Gulf of Guinea of West Africa in the eastern South Atlantic. Tabeta and Mochioka [83] and Mochioka and Tabeta [84] documented the pigmentation of leptocephali of each family collected near Japan; in particular, they showed the detailed pigmentation patterns of the distinct species types of the Chlopsidae.…”

The behavioral ecology and distribution of leptocephali: marine fish larvae with unforeseen abilities

“…Because most benthic marine eels spawn within or near their habitats, the highest abundances of their leptocephali have been found over or near continental shelves, such as along the shelfbreak of the East China Sea (Miller et al 2002), off West Sumatra (Miller et al 2019b) (Fig. 5a, b), in the Northern Bahamas (Miller and McCleave 2007), or along the coast of West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea (Blache 1977;Miller and Robinet 2018). Small leptocephali of a few marine eel species were also caught along the northeastern coast of Japan, suggesting local spawning without migration (Fig.…”

“…It appears that there are several types of leptocephali that are typically not frequently collected offshore compared to others that are also spawned over or near continental shelves. These taxa include the larvae of the Muraenesocidae (pike congers), Heterocongrinae (garden eels of the Congridae), most Ophichthidae (snake and worm eels), mud eels (Heterenchelyidae; see Miller and Robinet 2018), and the larvae of bonefish, tarpons, and ladyfish (members of the Elopomorpha). These species of leptocephali are typically only collected in areas near shallow water or in areas with strong currents that transport them offshore (Miller 1995;Miller et al 2011b;McCleave 1994, 2007).…”