466 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



rudimentary gill raker at the origin of the lower 

 limb; the 169-mm. specimen had two; and there 

 was none on a 230-mm. specimen. Only one of 

 the specimens had a shortened gill raker at the 

 origin of the upper limb. There is no apparent 

 correlation between body size and number of 

 rudimentary gill rakers, at least up to 230 mm. 



Scutes. — Range of the mean number of scutes 

 at more than 100 mm. standard length: about 23 



Table 9. — Caranx ruber: Correlation of the numbers of 

 lower-limb to upper-limb gill rakers of 73 specimens 



[The upper number in each block is the count obtained for that combination, 

 and the number in parentheses below is the approximate percentage of 

 that count in the total sample] 



LOWER-LIMB GILL RAKERS 



-| — i — r 



i — i — r 



i — i — i — r 



to 29 (fig. 43). The developing scutes appear 

 below 15 mm. (fig. 35). The first scutes to com- 

 plete their individual development do so at 22 to 

 24 mm. Development of all scutes of fish above 

 100 mm. is completed, or nearly completed (fig. 

 43). 



Lateral line. — Range of mean lateral-line ratio 

 at more than 55 mm.: about 1.1 to 1.5 (fig. 44). 

 Nichols (1939: 9) gave a ratio range for small 

 specimens of 1.0 to 1.3. The mean ratio increases 

 up to about 65 mm. 



Preopercular spines. — The preopercular angle 

 spine has apparently ceased to grow by 12.4 mm. 

 standard length and to decrease in length at some 

 size smaller than 18 mm. It is completely 

 absorbed within the preopercular margin between 

 41 mm. and 44 mm. (fig. 45). The number of 

 preopercular upper-limb and lower-limb spines is 

 variable, but tends to decrease with an increase in 

 body size (table 1). 



Pigmentation. — The body, head, and mouth 

 parts of the 12.4-mm. specimen are covered with 

 pigment spots. A group of larger melanophores 

 occurs on the transparent portion of the brain 

 case. The pelvic fins and the dorsal and anal 

 interspinous membranes are well pigmented, and 

 "1 — r 



-i — r 



~\ — r 



~i — r 



t — i — i — r 



30 — 



UJ 



r- 

 Z> 

 O 



w. 



u_ 

 o 



<r 



UJ 



m 



20 — 



10 



J II I L 



1 I L 



J I I L 



J I J L 



100 150 200 



STANDARD LENGTH IN MM. 



250 



Figure 43. — Caranx ruber: Relation of the mean number of scutes to standard length. 



