Notes on eggs, larvae and juveniles of fishes from Indian waters 1. Xiphias gladius Linnaeus

Abstract

Since December 1957 plankton collections were being made from the West Coast and Wadge Bank during the cruises of the Research Vessel " Kalava " of the Indo-Norwegian Project which is utilised by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Station for oceanographic and fisheries investigations on a co-operative basis. During a cruise to Minicoy and some other islands of the Laccadive Archipelago in February 1958 I was able to collect a number of eggs, larvae and juveniles of fishes. In the meanwhile I have had also the occasion to examine the larval and juvenile fishes collected from the Indian Ocean by the Danish " Dana " expedition of 1928-30 which were placed at my disposal some time ago for study. While the " Dana" collection will be treated separately, reference will be made to it whenever comparison is necessary, when dealing with other collections. It is proposed to describe specimens of special interest collected during the cruises of R. V. "Kalava" along with some other fish larvae from coastal waters in the first few articles of this series.