FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 4 



general area. The remaining two occurrences on 

 ETP II were obtained at the northern, outer end 

 of the pattern, again similar to the distribution 

 of Diplospinus larvae on ETP I. On ETP II, 

 there were no occurrences of Diplospinus larvae 

 between these two widely separated groups; on 

 ETP I two specimens were taken at intermediate 

 localities. Larvae of this species have been ob- 

 tained in a number of collections made in the 

 North Pacific central water mass, with best dis- 

 tributional information from the NORPAC Ex- 

 pedition of August 1955. It is not taken in Cal- 

 ifornia Current waters, hence the distribution 

 in the Humboldt Current waters off Peru does 

 not have a mirror-image replication in the Cal- 

 ifornia Current, as has been found for a number 

 of species. 



Larvae of Trichiunis lepUirus (20 occurren- 

 ces, 106 larvae) were taken in a coastal band on 

 ETP II (Figure 17). Eggs of this species are 

 readily identified and occurred in many of the 

 hauls containing Trichiunis larvae and in some 

 additional hauls. Interestingly enough, larvae 

 of this species were not obtained in ETP I col- 

 lections, hence this is another exception to the 

 general pattern of year-long reproduction by 

 tropical pelagic fishes. Unlike larvae of Gempy- 

 lus or Nealotus, which were widely distributed 

 in the EASTROPAC area, larvae of this species 

 appear to have a restricted, coastal distribution. 



Larvae of Lepidopiis sp. (3 occurrences, 9 

 larvae) were taken in contiguous stations at 

 about lat 5°S off Peru (Figure 17). Larvae of 

 Lepidopiis were taken in more hauls on ETP I 

 (7 occurrences, 25 larvae, Ahlstrom, 1971, Fig- 

 ure 14), all located between the equator and lat 

 5°N and offshore to long 92°W. 



This change in area of spawning of Lepidopiis 

 from north of the equator on ETP I to the south 

 of the equator on ETP II may not be significant, 

 because of the paucity of positive hauls. If real, 

 one can only surmise as to whether the two pop- 

 ulations were discrete, with separate spawning 

 seasons on the two sides of the equator. 



53. BOTHIDAE 

 (70 occurrences, 690 larvae) 



Bothid larvae occurred in more hauls than 

 on ETP I (70 versus 56 occurrences) and in 

 larger numbers (690 versus 199 larvae). The 

 species composition, however, was similar 

 (Table 22). A short section will be devoted to 

 each of the forms listed in this table. 



Bothus leopardinus (Gunther) 

 (27 occurrences, 97 larvae) 



Only larvae of B. leopardinus have been ob- 



Table 22. — Frequency of occurrence and relative abundance of larvae of flatfishes, 

 Pleuronectiformes, on the second multivessel EASTROPAC survey, summarized by 

 vessel pattern. 



1202 



