FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 69, NO. I 



resented by Melamphaidae, a family of fishes that 

 is almost as ubiquitous as the myctophids or 

 gonostomatids. Fishes of the gadoid family, 

 Bregmacerotidae, also are widely distributed in 

 the warmer waters of all oceans. Among the 

 ubiquitous epipelagics are the flyingfishes, Ex- 

 ocoetidae. 



Only a moderate number of perciform fishes 

 are widely distributed in offshore, oceanic wa- 

 ters. Among the more important are fishes of 

 the families Scombridae, Gempylidae, Trichiur- 

 idae, Istiophoridae, Coryphaenidae, Bramidae, 

 Nomeidae, Apogonidae, Chiasmodontidae, and 

 Tetragonuridae. 



Larvae of some demersal fishes have a much 

 wider offshore distribution than one would asso- 

 ciate with the known distribution of adults. In- 

 cluded in this group are larvae of bothid and 

 cynoglossid flatfishes, and larvae of Scorpaeni- 

 dae, Gobiidae, and Labridae. 



Another widely distributed gi-oup in oceanic 

 waters are the bizarre ceratioid fishes. The 

 rotund larvae of these fishes were taken in about 

 30 % of the EASTROPAC collections, always in 

 small numbers. 



The basic data on the kinds and numbers of 

 fish larvae obtained in the 482 EASTROPAC I 

 collections are contained in six appendix tables, 

 whose contents are summarized below, and keyed 

 to Table 8 and to other tables in this report. 



Appendix Table 1. — Counts of fish larvae, 

 tabulated by family, for all stations occupied 

 on EASTROPAC I. This table contains 22 

 categories, mostly families, but for complete- 

 ness, a category is included for "other identi- 

 fied larvae," one for "unidentified larvae" and 

 one for "disintegrated larvae" (i.e., larvae too 

 damaged or disintegrated to identify with any 

 certainty) . 



Appendix Table 2. — Myctophid larvae, tab- 

 ulated by genus or species, for all stations oc- 

 cupied on EASTROPAC I. Myctophid larvae 

 are tabulated by species for 12 kinds, and by 

 genus for 8 kinds. Also included are cate- 

 gories for unidentified myctophids, and total 

 myctophids. A summary of this appendix 

 table is contained in Table 15. 



Appendix Table 3. — Counts of selected ca- 

 tegories of fish larvae by station. Table con- 

 tains 23 categories including 10 species, 10 

 genera, 2 families, and 1 suborder; 9 of these 

 were included in the category "other identi- 

 fied larvae" in Appendix Table 1. 



Appendix Table 4. — Summary of occur- 

 rences and numbers of larvae of eight families 

 limited in distribution to a broad coastal band 

 or around offshore islands. Only positive 

 stations are included. These eight families 

 also were included in the category " other 

 identified larvae" in Appendix Table 1. 



Appendix Table 5. — Numbers and kinds of 

 larvae of Gempylidae-Trichiuridae obtained 

 in EASTROPAC I collections. Only positive 

 stations are included. A summary of this ap- 

 pendix table is given in Table 19. 



Appendix Table 6. — Numbers and kinds of 

 flatfish (Pleuronectiformes) larvae obtained 

 in EASTROPAC I collections. Only positive 

 hauls are included. A summary of this ap- 

 pendix table is given in Table 22. 



Appendix Table 7.— Standardized haul 

 factors for the 482 oblique 1-m net hauls taken 

 on EASTROPAC I. These factors adjust ori- 

 ginal counts of larvae to the comparable stan- 

 dard of numbers of larvae in 10 m3 of water 

 strained per meter of depth fished. 



I will not attempt to comment on all 58 cate- 

 gories (family or larger grouping) summarized 

 in Table 8, but will limit my discussion to 31 

 of these. In order to tie the text discussion 

 closely to this table, I i-etain the numbers for 

 categories as given in Table 8; those discussed 

 in the text ai-e preceded by an asterisk in this 

 table. 



COMMENTS ON LARVAE OF THE 



MAJOR FISH FAMILIES COLLECTED 



ON EASTROPAC I 



1. CLUPEIDAE 

 ( 10 occurrences, 81 larvae) 



Three species of clupeid larvae were taken 

 in EASTROPAC I collections — Opisthonema sp. 



12 



