本篇報告旨在探討東港沿岸產虱目魚苗之形態特微、體長與體重組成、形質及脊椎骨數等諸項問題,獲得如下之結果: (1)東港沿岸產之虱目魚苗,體形狹長、體色幾呈透明。眼球上黑色素胞密佈。腹部中央有一橢圓形空腔,藉一管道與口部相通,腔上有一羣色素胞分佈,空腔前端有一朱紅色器官。腹鰭尚未長出,尾鰭為正尾型。腹部下緣自鰓蓋後方起至肛門前有一列色素胞分佈,而前、後相連。 (2)剛捕獲魚苗之尾叉長為12.19~15.70mm,體重為3.20~11.20mg,但前、後汛期苗之尾叉長及體重之頻度分佈不同。 (3)尾叉長與前背鰭長、軀幹長、頭長及體高等形質均成直線式關係。其中,軀幹長及頭長二個形質在前、後汛期苗間有顯著不同。 (4)尾叉長與全長亦成直線式關係,但尾叉長與體重則成相對成長式關係。尾叉長與全長關係在前、後汛期苗間有顯著不同。 (5)脊椎骨數為42~45枚,但以43枚及44枚者為絕大多數,前者佔63.70%,後者佔33.56%,而無前、後汛期苗者之間之顯著差異。
The paper reports the morphological description, size composition, morphometry and vertebrae number of the milkfish fry caught from Tungkang Coast in 1976 and 1977. The morphological descriptions were based on newly caught fry. The features of the outer and inner organs were described in details. The fork length of the fry sampled ranged from 12.19mm to 15.70mm, and body weight from 3.20mg to 11.20mg. There were significant differences in fork length and body weight frequency distributions between the early and the late fry seasons. The relationships of predorsal length, trunk length, head length, body depth and total length to fork length were in linear equations, while the relationship of body weight to fork length was in allometric equation. Among the characters mentioned above, the trunk length, head length and total length revealed significant difference between the early and the late fry seasons. The vertebrae counts ranged from 42to 45.The fry with 43 and 44 vertebrae accounted for 63.70% and 33.56% respectively of total specimens examined. There was not significant difference in vertebrae number between the early and the late fry seasons.