• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.507-512
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• 2012

One leptocephalus (TL 59.9 mm) from the family Ophichthidae collected from Jeju Island, Korea, was identified using morphological and molecular methods. Our ophichthid leptocephalus was identified as belonging to the genus Muraenichthys based on morphological characters: 157 myomeres; the origin of the dorsal fin located a little in front of the anus; a distinct melanophore present on the opercle; and six gut swellings present. An analysis of 886 base pairs of the 12S rRNA mtDNA sequences showed that our leptocephalus must be Muraenichthys gymnopterus, because its sequences were concordant with those of an adult M. gymnopterus (d=0.001) and next to those of Muraenichthys sp. leptocephalus (d=0.034). Here, we are the first to describe the morphological characteristics of the M. gymnopterus leptocephalus.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.415-424
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• 2012

Four species of ophichthid leptocephali were identified using 12S rDNA sequences, and their morphological descriptions were first provided based on six individuals (S1-S3,M1, and E1-E2) collected from the East Sea and the Korea Strait between September 2008 and October 2010. Mitochondrial 12S rDNA 859-861 base pairs of ophichthid leptocephali were compared with those of 16 ophichthids adult and 2 outgroups (Anguilla japonica and Conger myriaster). Leptocephali of S1 and E1 were very closely clustered with adult of Scolecenchelys borealis (D=0.002) and Echelus uropterus (D=0.000), respectively. However, leptocephali of S2-S3 andM1 were slightly far clustered with leptocephalus of S1 (D=0.006) and adult of Muraenichthys gymnopterus (0.034), respectively. We believe that S1 and E1 are S. borealis and E. uropterus, respectively, in which the former is unrecorded species in Korea. However, S2-S3 and M1 may be undescribed species belonging to genus Scolecenchelys and Muraenichthys, respectively, because total numbers of myomeres for S2-S3 (148-158) and M1 (151) were not consistent with total numbers of vertebrae or distribution for any adult of Scolecenchelys spp. and Muraenichthys spp. in the world. We propose the new Korean name 'Dong-hae-mul-baem' for S. borealis.