130 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 18. — Bottom-living prfcjuvenile Pseudopriacanthus alius, 58.9 mm. standard length (BLBG, Silver Bay 1268). 



the membranes, until about 65 mm. (see fig. 19, 

 67.3 mm.) when, in the pigmented parts of the 

 fin, it was concentrated almost entirely on the 

 membranes. This pigmentation persisted through 

 the largest sizes. 



During the above sequence, beginning in a 16.8- 

 mm. specimen (fig. 13), the basal parts of these 

 fins began to lose pigment, although it persisted 

 here in some specimens to about 50 mm. (see fig. 

 17, 48.6 mm.). Loss of pigment progressed dis- 

 tally (figs. 18 through 22) until in the largest 

 examples (fig. 23, 261.8 mm.), only dark tips 

 remained, with streaks of less intense pigment 

 along the inner edges of some soft-raj's. In the 

 adults, the rays nearest the spine were the most 

 heavily pigmented, and the rays became pro- 

 gressively less pigmented away from the spine. 



In some specimens as small as 12.8 mm., the 

 pigment on the single spine formed a pattern of 

 three or four bars across the spine. After about 

 19.9 mm. (fig. 14), all specimens up to about 75 

 mm. (figs. 15 through 19) had this pattern. It 

 was most intense at about 50 mm., and gradually 



diminished until the spine became immaculate 

 after about 75 mm. 



Caudal Jin. — All specimens up to about 19.9 

 mm. (figs. 8-14) had immaculate caudal fins. 

 A 22.9-mm. specimen also appeared to have an 

 immaculate fin — a part of the fin was missing. 

 A 23.2-mm. specimen bore small dark specks ar- 

 ranged in several irregiilar vertical rows along the 

 caudal rays. This pigment pattern persisted until 

 metamorphosis had begun. Unmetamorphosed 

 specimens as large as 57.1 mm. showed this colora- 

 tion, and one of them, 40.7 mm., is illustrated in 

 figure 16. During metamorphosis (seen in speci- 

 mens 34.5 to 65.2 mm.) the fin was specked, and 

 tlie tips of the rays were nonpigmented. As 

 metamorphosis progressed, these specks appeared 

 to migrate distally along the rays and accumulate 

 near the border of the fin, forming a band of black 

 of vaiied intensity proximal to the light tips (figs. 

 16, 17, and 18). After metamorphosis v/as com- 

 plete (in some specimens as small as 63.2 mm.) 

 tlie fin was again immaculate except for the dark 

 band, whicli from this stage onward appeared as a 

 border on the fin (figs. 19 through 23). 



