Abstract:his paper presents the result of research on embryonic development of starry flounder Platichthys stellatus by means of artificial propagation and incubation in lightly aerated seawater. Fertilized eggs of starry flounder were isolated and spherical, contained no oil globules, and were buoyant in sea water.The egg membrane was thin, smooth, transparent and elastic. The mean size of eggs was 0.66-0.70 mm in diameter before absorbing water and 0.91-1.06 mm after fertilization and water absorption. According to the appearance and characteristics of the embryo, embryonic development was divided into 11 consecutive periods: cleavage stage, blastula stage, gastrulae stage, neurula stage, blastopore closed, formation of optic vesicle and somite, tail bud forming, formation of crystal, formation of otocyst, pre hatching stage, hatching stage. In 11±0.5℃ sea water, larvae hatched at about 101 h after fertilization. The total length of the post hatch larvae was 2.3-2.5 mm. The long diameter of yolk sac was 1075~125mm and short diameter was 060~0675 mm.
