FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 69, NO. 1 



published data) . Standard haul totals of larvae 

 are used in this comparison (Table 7) not ori- 

 ginal counts. CalCOFI cruises repeatedly sur- 

 veyed a coastal area extending 200 to 300 miles 

 offshore between San Francisco, California, and 

 Magdalena Bay, Baja California. NORPAC 

 was the first comprehensive survey of the North 

 Pacific, made in August-September 1955; the 

 area surveyed by four CalCOFI vessels partici- 

 pating in NORPAC was between lat 20° and 45° 

 N and offshore to long 150° W. 



Table 7. — Comparison of the average number of fish 

 larvae obtained per haul (standard haul values) EAS- 

 TROPAC I, NORPAC, and CalCOFI cruises. 



Number 

 hauls 



Averoge Total 



depth number of 



of hauls fish larvae' 



Average 



number 

 larvae/haul 



^ Standard houl totals. 



2 Data from two net hauls combined: on overage of 124 larvae per 

 haul were token in upper net hauls (0 to 130 m) and an average of 14 

 larvae per haul in closing net hauls,, sampling between co. 260 and 130 m. 



EASTROPAC hauls sampled a somewhat 

 deeper stratum than hauls made on CalCOFI 

 cruises, ca. 200 m as compared to ca. 140 m. As 

 indicated previously, information is available for 

 the majority of NORPAC stations on the rel- 

 ative abundance of fish larvae in the level be- 

 tween ca. 130 and 260 m (closing net hauls) as 

 compai'ed with the level above, to 130 m. Only 

 about one-ninth as many larvae were taken in the 

 deeper hauls. 



The difference between catches of larvae on 

 EASTROPAC I and NORPAC are particularly 

 marked — four times as many larvae were taken 

 per haul, on the average, on EASTROPAC I as 

 on NORPAC (both nets combined). For com- 

 parison with shallower CalCOFI hauls, I am as- 

 suming that 10 % of the EASTROPAC larvae 

 were obtained in the level between ca. 140 and 

 200 m. The adjusted value for EASTROPAC 

 larvae, 512 larvae per haul, on the average, is 

 1.55 times as large as the highest CalCOFI val- 

 ue listed (331 larvae per haul in 1957) and 2.35 

 times as large as the lowest value (216 larvae 

 per haul in 1959) . 



The majority of EASTROPAC larvae were 

 those of fishes which never attain a large size as 

 adults — myctophids, gonostomatids, sternopty- 

 chids, etc. — hence numbers of larvae, per se, 

 cannot be considered reliable indices of biomass. 

 The familial composition of larvae was not dis- 

 similar on NORPAC and EASTROPAC, how- 

 ever; hence this comparison of relative abun- 

 dance of larvae is more relevant, as regards 

 biomass, than the comparison with CalCOFI 

 fauna. 



KINDS OF FISH LARVAE OBTAINED 

 ON EASTROPAC I 



The kinds of larvae obtained on EASTRO- 

 PAC I are summarized by family and vessel 

 pattern in Table 8, the principal summary table 

 in this paper. Larvae of more than 50 families 

 are listed, but larvae of 10 families contributed 

 90 9f of the total. The myctophids were the 

 dominant group with 47.2 % of the larvae oc- 

 curring in nearly 98 % of the collections. Gono- 

 stomatid lai-vae were about half as numerous, 

 contributing 23.2 % of the larvae while oc- 

 curring in 95 % of the collections. Hatchetfish 

 larvae (Sternoptychidae) ranked third in 

 abundance with 6 % of the larvae taken in 70 % 

 of the hauls. Bathylagid larvae also exceeded 

 5 % of the total and occurred in 63 % of the 

 collections. Scombrid larvae ranked fifth and 

 exceeded 2 % of the count, followed by Breg- 

 macerotidae, 1.9 %, Paralepididae, 1.7 %, Idia- 

 canthidae, 1.0 Yc, Nomeidae, 1.0 %, and Mel- 

 amphaidae, 0.9 %. About one-third of the re- 

 maining larvae were too poorly preserved (dis- 

 integrated) to identity. 



On the basis of larval abundance, the domi- 

 nant orders of fishes in oceanic waters are the 

 Myctophiformes and Salmoniformes, making up 

 between 85 and 88 'li ; the latter value assumes 

 a proportionate representation of larvae of these 

 groups in the "disintegrated" category, i.e., 

 larvae too damaged or disintegrated to identify 

 with certainty. Despite the dominance of fishes 

 of the above two orders, a number of other 

 groups of fishes are represented in the oceanic 

 pelagic fish fauna. The berycoid fishes are rep- 



10 



