Description of the Larvae of the Feather Blenny Hypsoblennius hentz from New York Waters

                                     Description of the Larvae of Feather Blenny

                                     (Hypsoblennius hentz) from New York Waters

Paul A. Moccio, Robert E. Schmidt and Kathy Schmidt

 

Hildebrand and Cable (1938) originally described feather blenny (Hypsoblennius hentz) larvae, but their descriptions were confounded with other genera of blennies from North Carolina waters. The feather blenny is the only Blenniidae found consistently in New York waters and blenniid larvae collected from 2002-2010 in Jamaica Bay, Raritan Bay, and the East River are referable to this species.

Blenny larvae are elongate with a short gut. The dorsum of the gut is heavily pigmented, there are single melanophores below each myomere along the ventral surface of the body, and there is pigment on the roof of the mouth. Feather blenny larvae have a black spot or spots on the roof of the mouth until >2.6 mm TL. There are two melanophores on the tip of the premaxilla and an arch of melanophores that outline the joint between the premaxilla and the skull. Pigment on the posterior surface of the pectoral rays is seen on the smallest specimens (2.1 mm TL) and is initially confined to ventral third of the fin. This pigmentation spreads dorsally and distally as the larvae grow, but is restricted to the interradial membranes until the larvae are ca. 7.5 mm TL.

There are three preopercular spines present. These spines begin to develop at flexion, ca. 5.6 mm TL. The largest spine is at the angle of the preopercle and is directed posterioventrally. A smaller ventrally directed spine is anterior but close to the large spine at the angle of the preopercle and an even smaller posteriorly directed spine is dorsal to the largest.

The combination of preopercular spines and pigment patterns distinguishes feather blenny larvae from all other described species, such as the three Atlantic Coast to Gulf Coast blennies, freckled blenny (H. ionthas), striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus) and tessellated blenny (H. invemar).