How do I use the @serial javadoc tag?

The @serial javadoc tag is used to document the meaning and acceptable values of serialized fields. It appears in a javadoc comment just prior to a field declaration, and is followed by a free-form field description, which may span more than one line. In the standard javadoc output, this information is displayed only in the "Serialized Form" page for that class.

If this serializable field has been added since the initial version of the class, the @since tag should also be used to help document the version changes in the serialized form.