Otolith microstructural features and morphological development of larval and juvenile fish are important for studying the early life history of fish. In this study, the analysis of otolith features was performed on Squalidus argentatus laboratory-reared larvae and juveniles (0 to 40 days post-hatching or dph) collected as eggs in the Laibin section of the Pearl River (South China) from April to August 2020. According to the otolith development analysis, there was a corresponding relationship between the development of otoliths and the ontogenesis of fish, in which the shape of otoliths had a greater change in the post-flexion larval stage corresponding to the formation period of each fin. Observations of the microstructural features suggested that lapilli were the most suitable otoliths for age determination and increment deposition rate validation among the three pairs of otoliths. The result of a regression analysis of the number of lapilli increments on age indicated that otolith growth increments were deposited daily and the first increment was deposited at 3 dph. Our results support the usage of otolith increment deposition rate when assessing hatching dates and daily growth for wild S. argentatus at 40 dph when environmental conditions are comparable to those described in this study.

幼鱼和幼鱼的耳石微结构特征和形态发育对于研究鱼类的早期生活史很重要。在这项研究中，对Squalidus argentatus进行了耳石特征分析。2020年4月至2020年8月在珠江来宾段（华南）以卵形式收集的实验室饲养的幼体和幼体（孵化后0至40天或dph）。 根据耳石发育分析，存在对应关系在耳石发育和鱼类个体发育之间，其中耳石的形状在弯曲后的幼虫阶段发生了较大的变化，与每个鳍的形成时期相对应。微观结构特征的观察表明，在三对耳石中，lapilli 是最适合用于年龄测定和增量沉积率验证的耳石。耳石增量数随年龄的回归分析结果表明耳石生长增量每天沉积，第一个增量在 3 dph 时沉积。S. argentatus在 40 dph 时的环境条件与本研究中描述的环境条件相当。