Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2009
Soleid eggs caught in the plankton off Algiers were reared and identified. Thus, the egg and the yolk sac stages of Microchirus ocellatus (L.) and M. azevia (Capello) were described, compared and differentiated from the corresponding stages of M. variegatus (Donovan). For the latter species, a large perivitelline space was often discernible.
In 1889, Cunningham referred some pelagic eggs caught near Eddystone (English Channel) to Solea variegata, owing to their similarity to the mature ovarian eggs of this species. Moreover, he considered the embryonic and larval stages described, illustrated and named ’species no. 1'by Raffaele (1888) as belonging to the same soleid. In further works, Cunningham studied the two-day-old larva (1890) and the newly hatched larva (1896). These papers and some others relating to Microchirus variegatus (Donovan, 1808) (present name of S. variegata) were reviewed by Ehrenbaum (1905), Padoa (1956), Nichols (1976) and Russell (1976).
Such eggs are often collected in the plankton of the Bay of Algiers, but I noted a great variability in their features. According to Quero et al.