Lanternfish larvae from the Agulhas current (SW Indian Ocean)

This paper is presented as a guide to assist in identifying larval stages o f lanternfish (family Myctophidae) of the Agulhas Current region. The work is based on the larvae collected during three cruises conducted off the eas tern coast of South Africa from 29 degrees S to 34 degrees S in 1990 and 19 91. The larval distributions obtained from these surveys are summarised bri efly. Generally, only literature citations are given for species of the reg ion whose larvae have been described previously. Descriptions are limited t o those species for which complete larval development have not been publish ed previously and to those species not known to spawn in the region, to com pare larval features with those from regions where the species is known to spawn (i.e., Benthosema fibulatum, B. pterotum, Hygophum proximum, Lampaden a luminosa, Myctophum selenops, Notoscopelus caudispinosus and Triphoturus nigrescens). Also, diagnostic characters and illustrations are presented fo r species which may be difficult to identify in some developmental stages, particularly the early larval stages (i.e., Benthosema suborbitale, Bolinic hthys spp., Ceratoscopelus townsendi, Diogenichthys panurgus, Myctophum phe ngodes, Lobianchia dofleini, L. gemellarii and Scopelopsis multipunctatus).