FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 4 



and Richards (1975), closely resemble O. chrysop- 

 tera. Haemulon plumieri larvae between the end of 

 yolk-sac absorption and late flexion lack the dorsal 

 trunk pigment typically present in 0. chrysoptera, 

 and apparently lack the enlarged midventral trunk 

 melanophore(s) at all sizes (Saksena and Richards 

 1975). Both species develop preopercular spines at 

 about the same size, but H. plumieri acquires more, 

 with those in the posterior series larger than the cor- 

 responding spines of 0. chrysoptera. 



Larvae of other species of Haemulon have not been 

 described. Assuming that they resemble H. plumieri, 

 the combination of slightly different trunk pigment 

 and somewhat longer preopercular spines may allow 

 separation of smaller specimens. Larvae of the Atlan- 

 tic species of Conodon and Pomadasys have not been 

 described. A juvenile (17.3 mm) Conodon nobilis il- 

 lustrated by Heemstra (1974) has rather long pre- 

 opercular spines, suggesting that this character may 

 be useful in separating the larvae. Likewise, if larval 

 Pomadasys from the Atlantic resemble larval 

 Pomadasys from the Indo-Pacific, then they also may 

 be distinguished fromO. chrysoptera by having more, 

 and longer, preopercular spines (Nellen 1973; 

 Leis 4 ). 



De Sylva (1970) illustrated a 16.5 mm specimen of 

 Anisotremus virginicus which was deeper bodied and 

 much more lightly pigmented than 0. chrysoptera of 

 the same size. Anisotremus uirginicus is being de- 

 scribed from reared larvae by Potthoff et al. 5 The 

 similarity between A. virginicus and A. davidsonii 

 from the eastern Pacific (Watson and Walker 6 ) in- 

 dicates that Anisotremus can be separated from 0. 

 chrysoptera by being deeper bodied (mean depth 

 259c of SL forA. davidsonii vs. mean depth 17% of SL 

 for 0. chrysoptera) and by having more and longer 

 preopercular spines than 0. chrysoptera. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Cape Fear River collections were made by person- 



Meffrey M. Leis, The Australian Museum, P.O. Box A 285. Sydney, 

 South, NSW, 2000, Australia, pers. commun. January 1982. 



'Thomas Potthoff, Sharon Kelley, Martin Moe, and Forrest Young. 

 Manuscript. Description of the porkfish larvae, (Anisotremus 

 virginicus, Haemulidae) and the development of the vertebral 

 column, fins and tin supports and hyoid and branchial arches. 

 Southeast Fisheries Center Miami Laboratory, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL 

 33149 (TP, SK); and Aqualife Research Corporation, P.O. Box 

 3414, Marathon Shores, FL 33052 (MM, FY), pers. commun. 

 May 1982. 



^Watson, W., and H. J. Walker, Jr. Larval development of sargo 

 (Anisotremus davidsonii) and salema (Xenistius californiensis) (Pi- 

 sces: Haemulidae) from the Southern California Bight. Manuscript 

 in preparation. Marine Ecological Consultants of Southern Califor- 

 nia, 531 Encinitas Blvd., Suite 110, Encinitas, CA 92024. 



nel from the Department of Zoology of North Car- 

 olina State University during an ecological study, 

 supported by the Carolina Power and Light Com- 

 pany, of the lower Cape Fear River Estuary. Page 

 Campbell of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service 

 provided the Gulf of Mexico specimens. Jeffrey Leis, 

 H. J. Walker, Jr., Thomas Potthoff, and two 

 anonymous reviewers read this manuscript and of- 

 fered many valuable suggestions. Carolyn Davis and 

 Jeannie Marker typed the various versions of the 

 manuscript. 



LITERATURE CITED 



COURTENAY, W. R, JR. 



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DE SYLVA, D. P. 



1970. Ecology and distribution of postlarval fishes of 

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Heemstra, P. C. 



1974. On the identity of certain eastern Pacific and Carib- 

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HlLDEBRAND, S. F.. AND L. E. CABLE. 



1930. Development and life history of fourteen teleostean 



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HOLLISTER, G. 



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 Johnson, G. D. 



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Miller, G. L., and S. C. Jorgenson. 



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Scotton, L. N„ R. E. Smith, N. S. Smith, K. S. Price, and D. P. de 

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 Walls, J. G. 



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854 



