Notes on eggs, larvae and juveniles of fishes from Indian waters II. Istiophorus gladius (Broussonet)

Abstract

In the course of the cruise undertaken by the author on board the Research Vessel "Kalava" in February 1958, surface plankton collections were made from Station Nos. 205-220 and also from the anchorages of the vessel in the proximity of the Islands visited (Fig. 1). The larval swordfish from Station No. 218 has already been described in the first article of this series (Jones, 1958). There were sixteen larval specimens of the sailfish, Istiophorus gladius (Broussonet) ranging in length from 3'4-ll'75mm., the particulars of which are given in Table I. This appears to be the first record of larval sailfish from Indian waters and since there are no descriptions of larvas of this species, some of the typical stages are described briefly and figured.