FISHERY BULLhTIN: \0L. 69, NO. 4 



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NEW 

 YORK 



Meterythrops rofausta 



Figure 6. — Geographic distribution of Meterythrops ro- 

 busta based on specimens in the collection at the NMFS 

 Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. 



ralists dredges towed alongf the sea bottom. 

 From this we infer that this species probably 

 inhabits the sea bottom or the water stratum 

 closely adjacent to bottom. 



Body length of immature specimens ranged 

 from 6.6 to 7.5 mm, young males 8.5 to 12.0 mm, 

 and young females 8.6 to 9.3 mm. There were 

 no large specimens in the NMFS collection that 

 comi)are in size with the 28.5-mm adult male re- 

 ported by Smith (1879) from the Gulf of Maine. 



The six adult specimens included four males 

 and two females, a ratio of two males to one 

 female. 



No definite information pertaining to spawn- 

 ing is available from the material in our col- 

 lection. Both females are young and without 

 external eggs. The only evidence on this sub- 

 ject is the presence of immature and young sjie- 

 cimens in the August collections, which implies 

 a spring spawning season. 



Hypererythrops caribbaea Tattersall, 1937 



This species is distributed along the east coast 

 of North America from Maine to the Caribbean 

 Sea. It has been reported from the outer conti- 

 nental shelf and upper slope at depths between 

 214 to 402 m (Tattersall, 1951). Apparently it 

 is an uncommon species, since it has been re- 

 ported previously from only seven stations. 

 Body size is moderately small; lengths range 

 from about 8 to 13 mm. 



The NMFS collection contains three specimens 

 from three locations (Figure 7; Burns and 

 Wigley, Table 8) , between the southern Gulf of 

 Maine and the continental shelf margin south 

 of Rhode Island. This southernmost sample is 

 from a depth of 179 m; the others are from 168 

 to 179 m. The .smallest specimen, 5.5 mm body 

 length, is immature; the other two, 9.5 to 

 11.0 mm, are adult females. The largest spec- 

 imen is larvigerous with an incomplete brood 



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9 



f 



NEW 

 YORK 



Hypererythrops caribbaea 



Figure 7. — Geographic distribution of Hypererythrops 

 cariblinea based on specimens in the collection at the 

 NMFS Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. 



726 



