The natural parent f ish of Engraulis japonicus was caught with bottom trawler f rom Haizhou Bay in the Yellow Sea and the eggs were artif icially fert ilized. The fertilized eggs began to divide in 40min, to be 16-cell stage in 1h30min, late cleavage stage in 2h50min, blastula stage in 5h, closure of the blastopore in 17h10min, hatching in 37h50min after fertilization, and the process of embryonic development was about 38h at 21. 6~ 24. 0 e .