| At 8.5 mm, body is elongate to moderately elongate cylindrical body, moderate sized head is triangular, snout blunt, mouth terminal, and small round eyes. Rays of caudal, dorsal, and anal fins begin to appear, pelvic fins are only buds. Head and body are heavily pigmented with large scattered melanophores. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fin bases are pigmented.
At 11.0-11.5 mm, body deepens and head becomes more triangular. All fins except the pectorals are complete. Pigmentation intensifies with growth. The melanophores are found laterally in longitudinal lines that cover the entire body and are crossed by oblique shorter ones. Head becomes darker because of heavier pigmentation. On the tip of the caudal peduncle and the base of the caudal fin, the melanophores become denser and begin to form the vertical bar characteristic of adults.
At 13.0-14.0 mm, the body shape, the longitudinal zigzag pattern of melanophores and the vertical black bar on the extremity of the caudal peduncle of the adult is now manifested. |
