RICHARDSON and JOSEPH: LARVAE AND YOUNG OF BOTHIDS 



Snout length - snout tip to anterior margin 



of orbit of left eye. 

 Snout to anus length - distance along body 

 midline from snout tip to vertical through 

 center of anus. 

 Eye diameter - greatest diameter of left eye- 



'ball. 

 Upper jaw length - snout tip to posterior 



margin of maxillary. 

 Depth at anus - vertical distance from base of 



dorsal finfold or fin to anus. 

 Depth behind anus - vertical distance from 

 base of dorsal finfold or fin to base of 

 ventral finfold or fin immediately behind 

 anus at the angle where body depth de- 

 creases greatly (larvae) or where body 

 depth is greatest (juveniles and adults). 

 Peduncle depth - least depth of caudal pe- 

 duncle (in larvae, body depth at postero- 

 most myomere before formation of caudal 

 fin). 



Meristics 



Meristic counts were made on 192 selected 

 larvae of both species taken from the VIMS 

 1962 plankton collections. The larvae had 

 been stained with Alizarin Red S by a method 

 modified slightly from that described by 

 Hollister (1934). Faded larvae were restained 

 using Taylor's (1967) enzyme method. Counts 

 were made of dorsal fin rays, anal fin rays, 

 caudal fin rays, left and right pectoral fin rays, 

 branchiostegal rays, vertebral centra, neural 

 spines, and hemal spines. Fin rays and verte- 

 brae were counted even if they were tinted 

 only slightly with alizarin. 



Meristic data on fin rays of adults of both 

 species were obtained from specimens in 

 VIMS collections. Fifty specimens of E. micro- 

 stomus came from lower Chesapeake Bay in 

 1955, and 27 had been collected offshore from 

 Wachapreague, Va., in 1965. Fifty-two speci- 

 mens of C. arctifrons had been trawled near 

 lat. 40 °N in 1967, and 33 had been taken from 

 approximately lat. 36°N in 1966. Fifty adults 

 of each species were x-rayed for vertebral 

 counts. Half of these specimens came from lat. 

 36°N and half from lat. 38 °N, an area encom- 

 passing that of the VIMS larval collections. 



For comparison, additional meristic data were 

 gathered from the literature (Gutherz, 1967). 



Illustrations 



Illustrations were made with the aid of a 

 camera lucida. Penciled halftones (Figures 2-8) 

 show the external morphology of lar\'al to adult 

 stages. Line drawings of osteological features 

 (Figures 9-11) were made from alizarin stained 

 specimens. 



The illustrations were made fi'om specimens 

 representative of general trends, as consider- 

 able variation may be found. 



EGGS AND LARVAE OF OTHER 



SPECIES OF ETROPUS AND 



CITHARICHTHYS 



Norman (1934) listed 6 species of Etropus 

 and 14 species of Citharichthys; all but one 

 are found along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts 

 of North, Central, and South Americas. Very 

 little has been published about early stages of 

 any of these species. 



Goode and Bean (1895) illustrated (Plate 

 CIV, Figure 361) a larval stage (size not given) 

 of what they thought to be E. rimosus. Hsiao 

 (1940) illustrated a 6.5-mm larva and described 

 larvae from 6.5 mm to 15 mm which he called 

 E. crossotus. None of these larvae resemble 

 those of E. microstomus. They more closely 

 resemble those of Bothus sp. figured and de- 

 scribed by Kyle (1913), Padoa (1956), Colton 

 (1961), and Jutare (1962). 



Kyle (1913) illustrated two larvae labelled 

 ? Citharichthys sp. A and ? Citharichthys sp. 

 B. Pigmentation on Kyle's Citharichthys A 

 is similar to that of Paralichthys doitatus 

 (Smith and Fahay, 1970; Plates 9, 10); fin ray 

 and vertebral counts of Citharichthys A are 

 within the range for this species and agree with 

 no other North Atlantic species of Paralichthys 

 (Gutherz, 1967). Kyle's Citharichthys B were 

 collected in the northwestern part of the Gulf 

 Stream (lat. 42°12'N, long. 62°15'W). Verte- 

 bral counts (plus urostyle) and fin ray counts 

 of Kyle's Cithanchthys B lie within the range 

 for C. arctifrons (Gutherz, 1967); however, 

 Kyle's illustrated specimen closely resembles 



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