| The cynodontid fish Rhaphiodon vulpinus Agassiz, 1829, known as "peixe-cachorro", is the only species of the family oceurring in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso. The initial development of its larvae was characterized, based on material collected with a 500 µm mesh size plankton-net, in several biotopes of the Pantanal of Barão de Melgaço, State of Mato Grosso, Central Brazil. The analysis was carried out with 72 larvae with standard length (SL) between 4.7 and 13.8 mm. The morphometric measurements varied positively with standard length, and body proportions ranged 8.1-17.8% for head length (HL), 6.2-10.1% for body height, and 63.673.5%, 16.8-21.6%, and 61.8-78.2% SL, respectively for pre-dorsal, pre-pectoral and pre-anal distances. The eye diameter varied... |
