FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 4 



Figure 1. — Previously illustrated black sea bass eggs and prolarva. A) egg, 23 hr after 

 fertilization at 23°C, from Hoff (1970, Figure 8) ; B) egg, 65 hr after fertilization at 

 16°C, from Wilson (1891, Figure 151) ; C) prolarva, 54 hr after hatching at 23°C, 2.01 

 mm TL, from Hoff (1970, Figure 9). 



winter. C. striata is the only serranid expected 

 to spawn on the continental shelf between Ches- 

 apeake Bay and Cape Cod, Mass. (Miller, 1959). 

 Among east coast serranids the unique fin ele- 

 ment counts for Centropristis for dorsal (X, 11) 

 and anal (III, 7) fins allowed me to determine 

 that I had larvae of this genus. The modal pec- 

 toral fin ray count of 18 for black sea bass is 

 distinctive among Centropristis and seen on larg- 

 er larvae. The pigment patterns on larger lar- 

 vae, whose fin complements were complete, were 

 seen in smaller larvae which appeared to be de- 

 veloping the meristic characters of black sea 

 bass. This was the rationale for identifying the 

 larvae described here as Centropristis striata. 

 On five ichthyoplankton surveys by the RV 

 Dolphin between June and November 1966, we 



collected larval black sea bass at stations between 

 Barnegat Bay, N.J., and Cape Lookout, N.C. 

 This paper describes these larvae and their oc- 

 currences. 



PROCEDURES 



Collecting methods and hydrographic data 

 from the 1965-66 RV Dolphin ichthyoplankton 

 survey are reported in detail by Clark et al. 

 (1969). Gulf V plankton tows were taken at 

 92 stations on eight cruises between Cape Cod, 

 Mass., and Cape Lookout, N.C. The oblique tows 

 covered 4.6 km with one net fishing from the 

 surface to 15 m and, simultaneously, a second, 

 from 18 to 33 m. Samples fixed in 5% buffered 



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