Notes on eggs, larvae and juveniles of fishes from Indian waters XV Pegasus volitans Linnaeus. XVI Dactyloptena orientalis (Cuvier and Valenciennes) and XVII Ddactyloptena macracanthus (Sleeker)

Abstract

Three species of pegasids viz., Pegasus volitans Linnaeus, P. laternarim Cuvier and P. draconis Linnaeus have been recorded from the seas around India. Of these, Pegasus draconis is distinct from the other two by the presence of 8 tail rings and 2 pits on occiput. P. volitans differs from P. laternarius mainly in having 12 tail rings as against 11 tail rings in the latter. P. natans is considered synonym of P. volitans (vide De Beaufort, 1962) and hence the larval and juvenile specimens collected from the Orissa coast (Jones and Pantulu, 1958) and the postlarva collected from Porto Novo (Krishnamurthy, 1962) should be known under P. volitans.