FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 4 



Ceratiidae 



(5 occurrences, 8 larvae) 



Larvae were obtained of two species of Cer- 

 atiidae, Cryptopsaras couesi Gill and Ceratias 

 holboelli Kroyer. Bertelsen had previously re- 

 corded larvae of C. couesi from the eastern trop- 

 ical Pacific, but not of C. holboelli. Ceratiid 

 larvae are peculiarly "humpbacked," and the 

 larger larvae of females develop "caruncles" on 

 their backs. The caudal ray count in ceratioid 

 fishes is constant at nine, except for two species 

 that develop only eight caudal rays — C. couesi is 

 one of these. 



Gigantactinidae 



(18 occurrences, 27 larvae) 



Larvae of Gigantactis sp. were taken in a tri- 

 angular-shaped wedge, broadest offshore (Fig- 

 ure 18) . Even small larvae of this family can be 

 identified with certainty, because of the large size 

 of the pectoral fins. 



Himantolophidae 



(8 occurrences, 9 larvae) 



Larvae of Himantolophidae were taken to the 

 north of the equator, between lat 2° and 10 °N 

 in all vessel patterns (Figure 18), Larvae are 

 similar to Bertelsen's series for H imantolophus 

 groenlandicus Reinhardt, and he recorded spec- 

 imens from Panama. Two additional species 

 of H imantolophus have been described from 

 Panama or vicinity: H. azuerlucens Beebe and 

 Crane and H. rostratu^ Regan. I have recorded 

 the EASTROPAC larvae simply as Himantol- 

 ophus sp. 



Linophrynidae 



(21 occurrences, 34 larvae) 



Several kinds of linophrynid larvae were 

 taken, of which three were common — larvae of 

 Borophryne apogon Regan, of the Linopht^ne 

 macrorhinu^ group, and of the type designated 



by Bertelsen as "Hyaloceratis." All but two oc- 

 currences of linophrynid larvae were in the in- 

 ner pattern shoreward of the Galapagos Islands 

 (Figure 18) . Most linophrynid larvae are more 

 elongate than other ceratioid larvae and also 

 have the lowest D and A counts, usually D3 and 

 A3. 



Melanocetidae 



(33 occurrences, 44 larvae) 



At least two kinds of Melanocetus larvae were 

 obtained on ETP II, with most specimens refer- 

 able to M. polyactis Regan and the remainder 

 to M. johnsoni Giinther. Most records of Mela- 

 nocetus were from the northeast quadrant of the 

 EASTROPAC pattern (Figure 18). 



Oneirodidae 



(47 occurrences, 82 larvae) 



At least one-third of the ceratioid larvae taken 

 on ETP II were referable to the family Oneiro- 

 didae. Bertelsen (1951) recorded seven kinds 

 of oneirodid larvae belonging to six genera from 

 collections made off Panama. All but one of these 

 were taken in ETP II, together with a new record 

 for the eastern Pacific. Oneirodid larvae sam- 

 pled on ETP II included Chaenophryne draco- 

 group, Chaenophryne longiceps-group, Dolopich- 

 thys sp., Micropolichthys microlophus (Regan), 

 Oneirodes eschrichti-group, Oneirodes melano- 

 cauda Bertelsen, and Pentherichthys sp. Ber- 

 telsen could identify some oneirodid larvae only 

 to species groups, including the three listed 

 above. Bertelsen included 24 nominal species 

 in the Oneirodes eschrichti-group, most of which 

 were possibly synonyms. 



Perhaps the most interesting record of an 

 oneirodid larva from ETP II was of Oneirodes 

 melanocauda from Station 47.008, off Panama. 

 A male, 9.5 mm TL (6.5 mm SL), agreed in all 

 essential characters with Bertelsen's description. 

 This is one of the more heavily pigmented cer- 

 atioid larvae. The fin counts were D6, A4, P19, 

 C9. Bertelsen based his description of 0. we/a- 

 nocauda on four specimens, 8 to 21 mm TL, the 



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