jaw lengths, and the development of fins, spi- 

 nation, pigmentation, sequence of ossification, and 

 migration of the right eye. 



REVIEW OF PERTINENT LITERATURE 

 CONCERNING BOTHID LARVAE 



In their description of Ancylofsetta dilecta 

 (three-eyed flounder), Goode and Bean (1896) 

 did not mention the larva they illustrated or any 

 of its larval characters. The following characters 

 are taken from the illustration: about 70 dorsal 

 fin rays, the 9 anteriormost elongate ; about 60 anal 

 fin rays; 6 pelvic fin rays, the first three are elon- 

 gate and extend almost to the caudal peduncle; 

 ocular-side pelvic fin on median line; small eye; 

 large mouth ; origin of dorsal fin anterior to ante- 

 rior edge of eyes ; migrating (right) eye appears to 

 move under the dorsal fin or through the head. All 

 of these characters except the number of fin rays 

 are present on large larvae of Cyclopsetta. Well- 

 developed preopercular spines and a single sphen- 

 otic spine are present on larval Cyclopsetta but 

 are not shown on Goode and Bean's illustration. 

 Despite the lack of spines on their illustration, I 

 believe their specimen is a Cyclopsetta. 



In Ancyloj)setta, the ocular-side pelvic fin is 

 above the median line ; the origin of the dorsal fin 

 is above the anterior part of the eye, not in advance 

 of it; the eyes are large, and the right side eye 

 probably migrates over the median dorsal ridge 

 anterior to the origin of the dorsal fin, not under 

 it. I do not know if larvae of Ancylofsetta have 

 elongate dorsal and pelvic fin rays. 



Many species of Bothidae have elongate dorsal 

 and pelvic fin rays in the larval stage, but larvae 

 of Syacium are the only other bothid larvae to have 

 numerous elongate dorsal (more than five) and 

 pelvic (generally three) fin rays. Symphurus 

 larvae (family Cynoglossidae) also have elongate 

 dorsal rays, that can number up to seven. The num- 

 bers of dorsal and anal fin rays that Goode and 

 Bean (1896) show are too low for Syacium, and 

 the elongate pelvic fin rays they show are too long 

 for Syacium. 



I am unaware of any published accounts of 

 Ancylopsetta larvae except those in which Sya- 

 cium, Cyclopsetta, Cithanchthys, or Etropus lar- 

 vae have been misidcntified as Ancylopsetta. Kyle 

 (1913) described and illustrated (fig. 27) a 6- to 

 7-mm. larva he called Ancylopsetta sp. Regan 



(1916) illustrated (plate 9, fig. 3) a specimen iden- 

 tified as A. qvudrocellata that he said resembles 

 Kyle's (1913) Ancylopsetta; Regan's second illus- 

 tration (plate 9, fig. 4) is a 4-mm. larva that he 

 called Ancylopsetta sp. Both of Regan's (1916) 

 larvae as well as the larva figured by Kyle (1913) 

 are larvae of Syacium. Aboussouan (1968) dis- 

 cussed in detail the relation of Kyle's (1913) An- 

 cylopsetta and Regan's (1916) Ancylopsetta to 

 Syacium. Dannevig (1919) and Hsiao (1940) re- 

 corded Ancylopsetta larvae from eastern Canada 

 and along the outer edge of Georges Bank that are 

 similar to Kyle's Ancylopsetta sp. and these also 

 are larvae of Syacium, — warm- water species of ver- 

 tebrates and invertebrates in this area are not un- 

 common (Bigelow, 1926, and Colton, 1961). 

 Pearson (1941) listed .4 ncy?o/>5e^to sp. in plankton 

 collections from Chesapeake Bay, but these are 

 probably Etropus or Citharichthys. Pearson 

 (1941: 84) stated, "The most characteristic fea- 

 tures of the two fish are the pronounced elongation 

 of the first two dorsal rays, the latter reaching 

 nearly a quarter the length of the body, and the 

 elongation of one of the ventral fins into a filament 

 extending to the vent." These larval characters 

 are found on larvae of Etropus and Citharichthys, 

 and species of these two genera are known from 

 Chesapeake Bay. Cyclopsetta and Syacium have 

 not been reported north of Cape Hatteras, N.C., 

 except for larvae of Syacium referred to as An- 

 cylopsetta by Dannevig (1919) and Hsiao (1940). 



Known larvae of Etropus have 2 elongate dorsal 

 fin rays, and Citharichthys larvae have to 3 

 elongate dorsal fin rays (5-10 in Cyclopsetta and 

 Syacium) and 1 or 2 elongate pelvic fin rays (3 

 in Cyclopsetta and Syacium) . 



S. guineensis (Bleeker, 1862) probably is a syn- 

 onym of S. micrurum Ranzani 1840; if so, the 

 larvae described by Aboussouan (1968) from off 

 Dakar are those of S. micrurum. Norman (1934) 

 listed S. guineensis in the synonymy of S. micru- 

 rum and gave its distribution as "Atlantic coast of 

 tropical America from Florida to Rio de Janeiro, 

 tropical West Africa." Distinguishing between 

 adult S. guineensis and S. mierurum is difficult, 

 and they are separated by their distribution; S. 

 guineensis off west Africa and S. micrurum, off 

 Florida, the Antilles, through the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the Caribbean Sea, and off the Atlantic coast 

 of South America to Rio de Janeiro. 



LARVAL BOTHID FLATFISH AND SPOTFIN FLOUNDER 



263 



