Molecular identification and morphological description of a Neoclinus chihiroe (Actinopterygii, Blenniiformes, Chaenopsidae) larva from the East Sea, Korea

A single specimen of Neoclinus (family Chaenopsidae) was collected from the East Sea, Korea, in June 2016.This is the first report of the larval stage of Neoclinus chihiroe Fukao, 1987. The lack of distinctive morphological features in fish larvae makes species identification difficult; however, the species was identified through DNA barcoding. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I revealed that the larval specimen corresponds to an adult of N. chihiroe reported from Korea in 2021. Morphologically, the larval specimen of N. chihiroe is characterized by the posterior tip of the maxilla being located below the middle of the eye, two multifid cirri on the orbit, dorsal fin with 13 spines and 15 soft rays, anal fin with 2 spines and 27 soft rays, and 13 pectoral fin rays. In the pigmentation pattern, there are three pairs of melanophores on the top of the head (one pair in each of the interorbital, occipital, and nape regions), several melanophores in a row from the isthmus to the anus, six pale melanophores on both sides of the dorsal contour, and many melanophores along the ventral contour on the anal fin base.