730 



Fishery Bulletin 93(4), 1995 



Age (days) 



Figure 4 



Comparison of age at length for chilipepper, Sebastes 

 goodei, and other Sebastes spp. The solid line represents 

 the predicted values of the growth curve (linear regres- 

 sion) for larval Sebastes goodei alone. 



this characteristic is variable (Table 4). Such vari- 

 ability has been reported in other species, including 

 S. entomelas, S. flavidus, S. melanops, and S. 

 mystinus (Laroche and Richardson, 1981 ), and should 

 be taken into account when using this characteristic 

 in the identification process. 



The identification of S. goodei larvae, initially 

 based on pigment patterns, can be confirmed by us- 

 ing otolith characters, given the distinctive optical 

 pattern and the relatively large extrusion check ra- 

 dius (Fig. 2; Table 6). The mean extrusion check ra- 

 dius of 14.84 [i (SD=0.577) in larvae from this study 

 is similar to the mean extrusion check radius of 

 15.15 \i (SD=0.89) in pelagic juveniles reported by 

 Laidig and Ralston (1995). Although the use of 

 otoliths is more labor intensive than the use of pig- 

 ment patterns or meristic characters, otoliths can 

 provide relatively accurate identifications when pig- 

 ment patterns and meristic characters yield dubi- 

 ous results or when pigment patterns and meristic 

 characters are compromised (e.g. in identification of 

 specimens from stomach contents). Studies have 

 shown that otolith characters can be used to sepa- 

 rate both species (Hecht and Appelbaum, 1982; Vic- 

 tor, 1987; Gago, 1993;) and stocks (Messieh, 1972; 

 McKern et al., 1974; Rybock et al., 1975). Laidig and 

 Ralston (1995) have found distinctive otolith char- 

 acters in S. auriculatus, S. flavidus, S. goodei, S. 

 jordani, S. mystinus, and S. paucispinis. Therefore, 

 the use of otolith characters may be very useful in 

 the identification of other species. 



It appears that S. goodei grows slower during the 

 larval stage (Fig. 4) than during the juvenile stage 

 (Woodbury and Ralston, 1991). The growth rate of 



Table 6 



Frequency of occurrence of the pre-extrusion optical pat- 

 tern in chilipepper, Sebastes goodei, otoliths and its occur- 

 rence in the otoliths of other Sebastes spp. with similar 

 larval pigment patterns. 



0.135 mm-day -1 for larvae during the first 40 days 

 in this study (Fig. 4) is relatively slow in comparison 

 with the 0.399 to 0.555 mm-day" 1 growth rates re- 

 ported by Woodbury and Ralston ( 1991 ) for S. goodei 

 juveniles 35 to 170 days old. Laidig et al. (1991) ob- 

 served a similar trend of slow growth during the lar- 

 val stage and accelerated growth during the juve- 

 nile stage in S. jordani. During the first 20 days of 

 life, S. jordani had a growth rate of approximately 

 0.165 mm-day -1 , whereas at 35 to 165 days, the 

 growth rate was 0.53 mm-day -1 . Laidig et al. (1991) 

 also indicated that owing to notochord flexion, early 

 larval growth in S. jordani was slightly sigmoidal 

 rather than linear. Growth for S. goodei probably 

 follows a similar pattern, but because of the small 

 sample size in this study, such a pattern could not 

 accurately be discerned. 



Acknowledgments 



We would like to thank the officers and the crew of 

 the RV David Starr Jordan and all the scientists who 

 participated in the collection of samples. Special 

 thanks to Ralph DeFelice for his illustrations and to 

 Stephen Ralston for his assistance in the otolith 

 analysis. Geoffrey Moser, Arthur Kendall, and Will- 

 iam Lenarz made helpful suggestions on early versions 

 of the manuscript. 



Literature cited 



Chen, L. 



1986. Meristic variation in Sebastes (Scorpaenidae), with 

 an analysis of character association and bilateral pattern 

 and their significance in species separation. U.S. Dep. 

 Commer., NOAATech. Rep. NMFS 45, 17 p. 



