FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 1 



Figure 2.—Leuroglossus schmidti larvae: A. 16.1 mm SL; B. 24.1 mm SL; C. 33.5 mm SL. 



Figure 3.—Leuroglossus schmidti juveniles: A. 33.1 mm SL; B. 47.8 mm SL. 



about 26-30% HL, in larvae but decreases to 22% 

 HL in juveniles. Snout length as a proportion of 

 head length increases from about 24% in preflex- 

 ion larvae to nearly 32% in postflexion larvae, but 

 declines to about 27% in transformed juveniles. 

 Body depth at the pectoral fin base increases as a 

 percentage of standard length during ontogeny, 

 from about 7% in preflexion larvae to about 14% 

 in transformed juveniles. Body depth at anus 

 also increases during development; in preflexion 

 larvae it is about 5% SL and reaches nearly 9% SL 

 in transformed juveniles. 



Larval pectorals are the first fins to form (Fig. 

 1); pelvic fin buds begin to form in larvae 22-24 

 mm (Fig. 2B). In postflexion larvae, dorsal and 

 anal fins form in the finfold (Fig. 2B, C) and 

 attach to the body by "streamers" (Ahlstrom 

 1969) or "hyaline strands" (Moser [1981]). 



Considerable morphological changes occur 

 during transformation. The eye stalks disappear 

 and the eyes become round (Fig. 3). Eye height in 

 transformed specimens is nearly 28% and eye 

 width about 29% of head length. The dorsal and 

 anal fins move to attach to the body surface (Fig. 



28 



