MULLIDAE OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



419 



40 



STANDARD 



100 

 LENGTH 



130 

 (MM) 



190 



Figure 13. — Relation of eye diameter to standard length of Mullidae of the western North Atlantic. For Pseudupeneus 

 maculatus, large black circle indicates smallest metamorphosed specimen (41.0 mm.) and large open circle 

 Indicates large pelagic form ( 59.5 mm. ) . 



eral midline were somewhat obliterated as pig- 

 mentation was more diffuse. In the lowermost 

 pelagic specimen in figure 4, there was a clear wavy 

 line which commenced just posterior to the tip of 

 the opercular spine, below the lateral midline, 

 proceeded posteriorly and parallel to the midline 

 to a point above the tips of the pelvic rays, then 

 turned dorsally and back anteriorly to meet the 

 lateral midline. An enlarged mirror-image of this 

 line was above the lateral midline, and together 

 the two formed a heart-shaped design in which 

 the base of the heart points anteriorly. This was 

 typical of P. maculatus of this size. In the two 

 larger specimens (fig. 4) this wavy line was elon- 

 gated posteriorly. The chromatophores between 

 the snout and the supraoccipital bones had 

 coalesced in the 46.5-mm. (lowermost) specimen, 

 and the two dorsal and the caudal fins had pig- 

 ment spots. Chromatopliores were present on the 

 two most dorsal rays of the pectoral fins of the 

 50.2-mm. specimen. 



A point to empliasize is that the degree of color 

 metamorphosis in pelagic juveniles (40 to 75 mm.) 

 does not depend upon size. A 73.5-mm. specimen 

 in this series had about the same coloration as a 



49.0-mm. specimen and lacked the black blotches 

 that had already formed in a 41.0-mm. specimen 

 from a different collection. 



In the series of metamorphosing forms (fig. 5), 

 the ground color was liglit tan. The mottling of 

 pigment spots seen on the entire body of the 

 pelagic specimens (fig. 4) was progressively less 

 intense below the lateral midline of the metamor- 

 phosing forms, receding first from the ventral 

 edge of the body. The pigmentation of the upper 

 lialf of the body of the 56.5-mm. specimen (fig. 5. 

 uppermost) was as heavy as that of the pelagic 

 forms. The pigmentation of the fins was no dif- 

 ferent from that of the fins of the pelagic forms. 

 No lateral black blotches have formed in any of 

 these specimens. Pigment blotches seen in the 

 photograph of the 56.5-mm. specimen (fig. 5) 

 showed up better in the photograph than to the 

 naked eye — this occurred in several instances. In 

 this series of specimens the dark pigmentation of 

 the lateral midline of pelagic specimens was re- 

 placed by lighter color. Slightly lx>low the lateral 

 midline was a second light horizontal line, appar- 

 ently an extension of the lower half of the heart 



