AHLSTROM: KIND AND ABUNDANCE OF FISH LARVAE 



obtained on ETP II, and five specimens previ- 

 ously had been taken on ETP I. These had been 

 identified as Centrolophus-Mke with the notation 

 that they probably represented an undescribed 

 form. Identification of the material as Amarsi- 

 pus carlsbergi was made by Dr. Michael H. Horn. 

 Since little is known about this species in the 

 eastern Pacific, I am listing all catch locali- 

 ties. 



ETP II = Station 45.346 at lat 14°38.2'N, 

 long 109°37.1'W, Sept. 8, 1967, 1 specimen, 

 26.2 mm; Station 47.272 at lat 11°20.8'N, long 

 88°00.5'W, Aug. 31, 1967, 1 specimen, 15.0 mm. 



ETP I = Station 11.066 at lat 06°49.8'N, long 

 118°55.5'W, Feb. 3, 1967, 1 specimen, 10.3 mm; 

 Station 11.114 at lat 02°37.8'S, long 119°02.3'W, 

 Feb. 7, 1967, 1 specimen, 30.0 mm; Station 11.306 

 at lat 12°03.5'N, long 126°00'W, Feb. 27, 1967, 

 1 specimen, 16.0 mm; Station 12.059 at lat 

 09°31.5'N, long 105°02.0'W, Feb. 22, 1967, 1 spe- 

 cimen, 7.2 mm; Station 12.246 at lat 06°12.0'N, 

 long 112°00.5'W, Mar. 16, 1967, 1 specimen, 

 7.3 mm. 



43. OPHIDIIDAE 



(38 occurrences, 81 larvae) 



A number of kinds of larvae of this complex 

 family were taken on ETP II, mostly in a coastal 

 band between Acapulco, Mexico, and central 

 Peru, but six occurrences were in a loose cluster 

 about the Galapagos Islands. Only one kind has 

 been identified to genus as yet; this is a form 

 with conspicuously large pectorals (11 occur- 

 rences, 15 larvae) whose larvae were clustered 

 in the Gulf of Panama or immediately seaward. 

 Dr. Daniel Cohen of the National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service has identified larger specimens 

 (small juveniles) as Brotula sp. A character- 

 istic of this genus observed on several specimens 

 was the presence of two ural centra in the 

 "urostyle." Garman (1899) described 22 spe- 

 cies of ophidiid-brotulids from the eastern trop- 

 ical Pacific, few of which have been retaken sub- 

 sequently. However, the variety of kinds of 

 ophidiid larvae in our material attests to a 

 speciose fauna. 



47. SCOMBRIDAE 

 (55 occurrences, 248 larvae) 



Scombrid larvae were markedly less abundant 

 in ETP II as compared with similar coverage on 

 ETP I (163 occurrences, 1,840 larvae). 



The majority of scombrid larvae from ETP II 

 were those of Aiixis sp. (34 occurrences, 151 

 larvae) or were too small to identify with cer- 

 tainty (30 occurrences, 84 larvae) . The remain- 

 ing scombrid larvae included the wahoo, Acan- 

 thocybium solanderi (Cuvier) (2 occurrences, 

 3 larvae) from Stations 45.065 and 46.004; the 

 mackerel. Scomber japoyiicus Hottuyn, (2 oc- 

 currences, 4 larvae) from near the Galapagos 

 Islands; bigeye tuna, Thimnus obesus Lowe, (1 

 occurrence, 1 larva) ; skipjack, Katsuwonus pe- 

 lamis (Linnaeus), (2 occurrences, 2 larvae); 

 yellowfin tuna, Thimnus albacares (Bonnater- 

 re), (2 occurrences, 2 larvae). Scombrid larvae 

 were given to W. Klawe of the Inter-American 

 Tropical Tuna Commission for identification. 



52. TRICHIURIDAE 

 (49 occurrences, 186 larvae) 



In the ETP I contribution, I pointed out the 

 similarity in appearance of larvae of Diplospinus 

 multistriatus Maul and those of Gempylus ser- 

 pens, and the problems this raised about the 

 distribution of genera between Gempylidae and 

 Trichiuridae and perhaps about the need for two 

 families. Treating larvae of the two families 

 separately in this paper was done only for con- 

 venience. The problems raised in the first ETP 

 contribution still need to be solved. 



Three kinds of trichiurid larvae were obtained 

 on ETP II: larvae of D. multistriatus Maul, 

 Trichiurus lepturus (L.), and Lepidopus sp. 



The distribution of larvae of D. multistriatus 

 (25 occurrences, 69 larvae) was strikingly sim- 

 ilar on the two multivessel cruises (Figure 4 

 and Ahlstrom, 1971, Figure 14) . On ETP II, all 

 but two occurrences were in a compact group 

 at the southern inner half of the ETP pattern 

 between circa lat 8° and 15°S and offshore to 

 long 95 °W. Most ETP I collections of larvae 

 of this species were obtained from this same 



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