FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 4 



of small melanophores develops along the lateral 

 line. At this length a few spots also develop at 

 the origin of the dorsal fin. As the anal fin rays 

 form, spots develop at some of their bases. A 

 prominent spot forms early, near the posterior 

 end of the anal fin; it is followed by four to six 

 smaller spots along the midventral line that ex- 

 tends to the base of the caudal fin where there 

 is another large spot. Before notochord flexion 

 there is a prominent spot on the developing fin 

 rays (Figure 9). This persists as the fin devel- 

 ops and reaches a position at the bases of some 

 of the ventral rays of the caudal fin. As the 

 caudal rays develop, some less prominent spots 

 appear on rays dorsally and ventrally from the 

 first spot. The pigment in the caudal region and 

 along the midventral line persists through larval 

 development. 



LARVAL OCCURRENCES 



Black sea bass larvae were taken on five 

 cruises from June to November 1966, between 

 Sandy Hook, N.J., and Cape Lookout, N.C. (Ap- 

 pendix Table) . Of 39 tows containing black sea 

 bass larvae, 20 had only one larva, and only two 

 had more than 20 larvae; thus only limited in- 

 ference about their distribution and relative 

 abundance can be derived from these data. Lar- 

 vae were taken in both shallow (0-15 m) and 

 deep ( 18-33 m) tows from 4 to 82 km from shore. 

 Water depths in the areas of capture ranged 

 from 15 to 51 m. Surface temperature varied 

 from 14.3° to 28.0°C; that on the bottom from 

 8.3° to 26.6°C. Surface salinity varied from 30.3 

 to 34.6%c. 



Seasonally, there seems to be some northerly 

 progression of spawning. During June one larva 

 was taken off Oregon Inlet, N.C, and one off 

 Paramore Island, Va. (Figure 10). During 

 August, larvae occurred from Cape Henlopen, 

 Del, to Ocracoke Inlet, N.C, being most abun- 

 dant off Maryland and Virginia (Figure 11). 



Figure 10. — Occurrence of black sea 

 bass larvae in shallow (0-15 m) 

 (open symbols) and deep (18-33 m) 

 (solid symbols) tows. Three RV 

 Dolphin cruises, 1966. 



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