412 



Fishery Bulletin 91(3). 1993 



agonid larvae for which published illustrations are 

 available. (Table 8). Larvae of Hypsagonus mozinoi, 

 H. quadricornis, and Percis japonicus are deeper bod- 

 ied, have notably shorter snout to first dorsal fin dis- 

 tances, are more heavily pigmented, and have lower 

 vertebral and dermal plate counts than O. trispinosa 

 and X. latifrons (Washington et al., 1984; Maeda and 

 Amaoka, 1988; Matarese et al., 1989). Bothragonus 

 swanii larvae have a very similar body morphology to 

 H. mozinoi, H. quadricornis, and P. japonicus but have 

 considerably less pigmentation (Marliave, 1975). 



Larvae of Chesnonia verrucosa and Stellerina 

 xyosterna have similar body morphologies to O. 

 trispinosa andX. latifrons but have notably larger pec- 

 toral fins with bands of pigmentation on or near their 

 posterior edges (Washington et al., 1984; Matarese et 

 al., 1989). Ocella dodecaedron and Leptagonus 

 leptorhynchus larvae have a similar body morphology 

 to X. latifrons. However, pigmentation of O. dode- 

 caedron is more sparse and that of L. leptorhynchus is 

 heavier (Maeda and Amaoka, 1988). 



Larvae of Ulcina olriki are distinguished from 0. 

 trispinosa and X. latifrons by having larger pectoral 

 fins with pigmented edges and only a single dorsal fin 

 (Dunbar, 1947). Larvae of Aspidophoroides mon- 

 opterygius (= A. bartoni) have extremely slender bod- 

 ies, a long pectoral fin with a low fin-ray count, higher 

 vertebral and body plate counts, and a single dorsal 

 fin (Maeda and Amaoka, 1988; Matarese et al, 1989). 

 Studies such as this and others planned for the future 

 are the first steps for providing diagnostic information 

 necessary to accurately identify early life history stages 

 of this interesting family of fishes. 



Acknowledgments 



The authors would like to thank Arthur Kendall Jr., 

 Ann Matarese (AFSC-Seattle), and Wayne Laroche 

 (Stonefish Environmental and Taxonomic Services) for 

 critical review of the manuscript. Much needed speci- 

 mens were provided by Wayne Laroche, Jeffrey 

 Marliave (VPA), H. Geoffrey Moser (SWFSC), Theodore 

 Pietsch (UW), Richard Rosenblatt (SIO), and Bruce 

 Wing (AFSC-Auke Bay). Douglas Markle (OSU) pro- 

 vided specimens and station data from collections off 

 the Oregon coast. Barbara Sumida-McCall illustrated 

 the specimens shown in Figure 5, A, B, and D, and in 

 Figure 7, A and C (from Moser, ed. 1 ). Beverly Vinter 

 illustrated specimens shown in Figure 5C and in Fig- 

 ure 7, B and D. Illustrations by Barbara Sumida- 

 McCall were partially funded by the U.S. Minerals 

 Management Service through an interagency agree- 

 ment (Number 10396). 



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