FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 4 



hauls and in much larger numbers than on equiv- 

 alent ETP I (6 occurrences, 13 larvae). As 

 shown in Figure 10, most occurrences were in 

 an equatorial band between lat 5°N and 5°S and 

 offshore to long 105°W; the five hauls containing 

 25 or more larvae were obtained within 2° of 

 the equator. Only one kind of Scojjelosaurus 

 larva was obtained on ETP II. Larvae of Sco- 

 pelosauriis superficially resemble paralepidid 

 larvae — both have elongate larvae with a short 

 gut that increases in relative length in older lar- 

 vae. However, Scopelosaiirus larvae differ in 

 several significant ways from paralepidid larvae, 

 Scopelosaurus larvae never develop patches of 

 pigment above the intestinal tract, whereas these 

 patches are a striking feature of paralepidid lar- 

 vae; the eyes of Scopelosaurus larvae are nar- 

 rowed, whereas they are round in most paral- 

 epidid larvae; also the intestinal tract does not 

 increase in relative length nearly as much in old- 

 er stage Scopelosaurus larvae as in paralepidid 

 larvae. 



19. SYNODONTIDAE 



(14 occurrences, 60 larvae) 



Larvae of Synodus spp. occurred in a coastal 

 band along the extent of the ETP II pattern 

 (Figure 5). Six species of Synodus are known 

 to occur in the eastern Pacific. Several kinds 

 of Synodus larvae were taken in the EASTRO- 

 PAC collections, mostly small specimens. Until 

 more older-stage larvae are obtained, it will not 

 be possible to work out life history series. 



21. ANGUILLIFORMES (EEL LEPTOCEPHALI) 



(81 occurrences, 151 larvae) 



Eel leptocephali, although conspicuous mem- 

 bers of the larval fish fauna, are not common 

 in the EASTROPAC pattern: they contributed 

 only 0.12% of the total ETP II larvae. Lepto- 

 cephali of seven families of true eels of the order 

 Anguilliformes, suborder Anguilloidei, were 

 identified from the micronekton net collections 

 of ETP II. The micronekton net collections from 

 ETP I contributed three times as many lepto- 



cephali as the regular net hauls; a total of 10 

 families was represented in the combined ETP I 

 collections, including the 7 discussed below and 

 in addition Derichthyidae, Muraenesocidae, and 

 Nettastomidae. The record of occurrence and 

 counts by family of eel leptocephali on all pos 

 itive stations is contained in Appendix Table 5, 

 and summarized in Table 20. The distributions 

 of larvae of the seven families taken in ETP II 

 collections are shown in Figures 14 and 15. 



Congridae 



(28 occurrences, 42 larvae) 



This family ranked first in frequency of oc- 

 currence among eel leptocephali and second in 

 relative abundance. Most congrid larvae were 

 identifiable to genus. The breakdown was as 

 follows: ylWosoma sp. (5 occurrences, 8 larvae), 

 Bathyconger sp. (3 occurrences, 4 larvae), 

 Gnathopis sp. (1 occurrence, 1 larva), Hilde- 

 brandia (10 occurrences, 18 larvae) , Paraconger 

 (4 occurrences, 5 larvae), and genus uncertain 

 (6 occurrences, 6 larvae). All but two occur- 

 rences were from north of the equator, and most 

 specimens were taken in a broad coastal band. 

 However, offshore oceanic occurrences of cong- 

 rid leptocephali were more frequent on ETP I 

 than on ETP II. 



Moringuidae 



(3 occurrences, 3 larvae) 



One occurrence of leptocephali of the morin- 

 guid genus Neoconger was off Manzanillo, Mex- 

 ico, the other two near Panama Bay. 



Muraenidae 



(5 occurrences, 6 larvae) 



Although adults of Muraenidae are known to 

 have a wide distribution in the eastern Pacific, 

 the few leptocephali taken on ETP II were con- 

 fined to a narrow tongue extending offshore be- 

 tween lat 7° and 10°N in the northeast quad- 

 rant. 



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1194 



