426 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



15 



O 



7 100 130 



STANDARD LENGTH (MM) 



160 



Figure 20.— Relation of snout length to standard length of MuUidae of the western North Atlantic. For Pfn-udupcneus 

 maculatus, large black circle indicates smallest metaniori>hosed si^ecinien (41.0 mm.) and large open circle indi- 

 cates large pelagic form (59.5 mm.). 



rays, and was considered a juvenile. On both 

 dorsal and ventral caudal lobes, the secondary 

 ray adjacent to the principal rays was segmented. 

 A 57.5-mm. specimen had the first two rays ad- 

 jacent to the principal rays segmented. The 

 cleared and stained caudal fin of a l78-mm. speci- 

 men showed no additional segmentation of either 

 lobe beyond those first two secondary rays ad- 

 jacent to the principal rays. 

 Gill rakers 



7\jfii7. — Total iniiiiber of gill rakers was counted 

 on 60 specimens. The number of upper-limb gill 



rakers on two smaller specimens (18.5 and 21.6 

 mm.) was indeterminate, and the specimens were 

 not available for staining. From 29.0 to 198.0 mm. 

 tlie total number of gill rakers ranged from 26 to 

 32, with the exception of one specimen (34.2 mm.) 

 which liad 24. 



When jjlotted against total body length ranges 

 (table 5, p. 411), the total number of gill rakers 

 averaged highest in the size range from 50.0 to 

 74.9 nim. There was a decrease after this size as 

 the gill rakers farthermost from the angle of the 

 arch become overgrown with tissue. 



