FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL, 71, NO. 3 



monograph. He stated Etropus is "very close 

 to Cithanchthys," the major difference being 

 the smaller mouth and more feeble dentition 

 with teeth mostly on the blind side of Etropus. 

 Transitory larval characters may provide 

 clues to taxonomic relationships. Syacium, 

 Cyclopsetta, Citharichihys, and Etropus are 

 four closely related genera of bothid flatfishes 

 (Norman, 1934). Syacium and Cyclopsetta 

 can be separated from Citharichihys and 

 Etropus on the basis of transitory larval char- 

 acters (Gutherz, 1970). Similarly, Syacium 

 can be separated from Cyclopsetta (Gutherz, 

 1970). Such characters could yield new evi- 

 dence to substantiate or discredit the validity 

 of the generic separation of Etropus and Cithar- 

 ichthys. However, as yet too few life histories 

 have been described for species of Etropus 

 and Citharichthys to permit meaningful con- 

 clusions. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We acknowledge the Medical College of 

 Virginia for use of its x-ray facilities, the 

 Sandy Hook Sport Fisheries Marine Laboratory 

 of the National Marine Fisheries Service for 

 use of its larval fish collections, and George C. 

 Grant for use of his Norfolk Canyon plankton 

 collections. We are grateful to Jane Davis for 

 her guidance in the preparation of the illus- 

 trative material contained herein. We thank 

 Jackson Davis, George C. Grant, John J. 

 Norcross, and Marvin L. Wass for their review 

 of the manuscript. Special thanks are given to 

 Elbert H. Ahlstrom for reviewing and com- 

 menting on the paper. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Agassiz, a., and C. O. Whitman. 



1885. Studies from the Newport Marine Laboratory 

 — XVL The development of osseous fishes. Part 1. 

 The pelagic stages of young fishes. Mem. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll. 14( 1): 1-56. 

 Ahlstrom, E. H. 



1960. Vertical distribution of pelagic fish eggs and 

 larvae off California and Baja California. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv., Fish Bull. 60: 107-146. 

 1965. Kinds and abundance of fishes in the Cali- 

 fornia current region based on egg and larval 



surveys. Calif. Coop. Oceanic Fish. Invest. Rep. 

 10:31-52. 

 Ahlstrom, E. H., and O. P. Ball. 



1954. Description of eggs and larvae of jack mack- 

 erel (Trachurus symmetriciis) and distribution and 

 abundance of larvae in 1950 and 1951. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 56:209-245. 



Ahlstrom, E. H., and R. C. Counts. 



1955. Eggs and larvae of the Pacific hake Merluccius 

 productus. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 

 56:295-329. 



1958. Development and distribution of Vinciguerria 

 lucetia and related species in the Eastern Pacific. 

 U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 58:363-416. 



Arnold, E. L., Jr. 



1959. The Gulf V plankton sampler. In Galveston 

 Biological Laboratory Fishery research for the 

 year ending June 30, 1959, p. 111-113. U.S. Fish 

 Wildl. Serv. Circ. 62. 



Beaumariage, D. S. 



1968. Manufacture of fish meal from Florida's 

 fishery waste and underexploited fishes. Part L 

 Wet reduction. Part II. Liquefaction. Fla. Board 

 Conserv., Tech. Ser. 54, 56 p. 



Berry, F. H. 



1964. Aspects of the development of the upper jaw 

 bones in teleosts. Copeia 1964:375-384. 



BiGELOW, H. B., AND W. C. SCHROEDER. 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. First Revision. 

 U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 53, 577 p. 

 Bleeker, p. 



1862. Sur quelques genres de la famille des Pleur- 

 onectoides. Versl. Akad. (Wet.) Amst. 13:422-429. 

 Bridger, J. P. 



1958. On efficiency tests made with a modified 

 Gulf III high-speed tow-net. J. Cons. 23:357-365. 

 Clark, J., W. G. Smith, A. W. Kendall, Jr., and M. P. 

 Fahay. 



1969. Studies of estuarine dependence of Atlantic 

 coastal fishes. Data report I: Northern section. 

 Cape Cod to Cape Lookout. R. V. Dolphin cruises 

 1965-66: Zooplankton volumes, midwater trawl 

 collections, temperatures and salinities. U.S. 

 Bur. Sport Fish. Wildl., Tech. Pap. 28, 132 p. 



Colton, J. B., Jr. 



1961. The distribution of eyed flounder and lantern- 

 fish larvae in the Georges Bank area. Copeia 

 1961:274-279. 

 Deubler, E. E., Jr. 



1958. A comparative study of the postlarvae of 

 three flounders (Paralichihys) in North Carolina. 

 Copeia 1958:112-116. 

 Eraser, T. H. 



1968. Comparative osteology of the Atlantic snooks 

 (Pisces, Ceniropomiis). Copeia 1968:433-460. 

 Gehringer, J. W. 



1952. 2. An all-metal plankton sampler (Model 

 Gulf III). In E. L. Arnold and J. W. Gehringer, 

 High speed plankton samplers, p. 7-12. U.S. 

 Fish. Wildl. Serv., Spec. Sci. Rep. Fish. 88. 



760 



