Orr and Matarese: Revison of the genus Lepidopsetta Gill, 1862 



561 



Pacific pleuronectids that undergo transformation at sim- 

 ilar sizes include Acanthopsetta, Eopsetta, Hippoglossus, 

 Isopsetta. Lyopsetta, Parophrys, and Psettichthys. 



Characters that separate juveniles further include mer- 

 istics of vertebrae, median fin elements, and gill rakers 

 (although gill rakers may not be fully formed): mouth 

 size; and the shape of the lateral line. Generally juveniles 

 of Lepidopsetta have lower meristics than juveniles of 

 Atheresethes. Eopsetta. Hippoglosssoides, and Hippoglos- 

 sus. Juveniles of Lepidopsetta develop the highly arched 

 lateral line during this stage (15-25 mm SL). A combination 

 of mouth size, residual larval pigment on the blind side of 

 early juveniles, lateral line shape, and. in larger juveniles, 

 number of gill rakers may help to separate other similar- 

 looking eastern North Pacific pleuronectids (Acanthopsetta, 

 I sopsetta. Lyopsetta, Parophrys, and Psettichthys). 



Identification of early life history stages of Lepidopsetta 

 has been confused in the literature for many years. Hick- 

 man (1959) described egg and larval development of the 

 sand sole, Psettichthys nielanostictus, on the basis of mate- 

 rial collected from Puget Sound, Washington. He illus- 

 trated six larvae identified as Psettichthys from specimens 

 reared from eggs (his Figs. 1 and 2) and from lar\'ae col- 

 lected by net (his Figs. 3-6). His Figures 3 and 4 can be 

 identified as L. bUineata from the alignment of dorsal and 

 ventral midline melanophores on the postanal body. 



In her extensive study of reproduction and development 

 in North Pacific flatfishes, Pertseva-Ostroumova (1961) 

 described the early life history stages of L. bilineata and 

 L. mochigarei. The description of L. bilineata is based on 

 material from collections off the Kuril Islands, off the east- 

 ern and western coasts of Kamchatka, and in the western 

 Bering Sea. Larvae from these geographic areas are L. 

 polyxystra n. sp. 



Blackburn (1973) provided figures of two specimens of 

 L. bilineata (his appendix Fig. C-2, A and B) in his survey 

 of ichthyoplankton from Skagit Bay, Puget Sound. His dis- 

 cussion, however, is clearly based on the larvae of both 

 eastern North Pacific species. 



Garrison and Miller (1982) reviewed the reproductive 

 characteristics of L. bilineata, but their sources either rep- 

 resent both species (Smith. 1936; Forrester. 1969; Forrester 

 and Thompson, 1969) or L. polyxystra n. sp. alone (Shub- 

 nikov and Lisovenko, 1964; Shvetsov, 1979). Ahlstrom et 

 al. ( 1984) correctly illustrated Psettichthys larvae but pre- 

 sented data and a figure for L. bUineata (their Fig. 351b) 

 based on Figure 22 (4) of Pertseva-Ostroumova ( 1961), now 

 identified as L. polyxystra n. sp. Okiyama (1988) also pre- 

 sented material for L. bilineata. based on Figure 23(1) of 

 Pertseva-Ostroumova (1961). which therefore represents 

 L. polyxystra n. sp. 



Matarese et al. (1989) separated larvae oi Lepidopsetta 

 from Psettichthys. Their description and figures of L. bilin- 

 eata are based on what we now refer to as L. polyxystra n. 

 sp., whereas the descriptions and figures of "Lepidopsetta 

 2" are now referred to as L. bUineata. Charter and Moser 

 ( 1996) presented figures of both Psettichthys melanostictus 

 and L. bilineata but. because Pertseva-Ostroumova (1961) 

 was cited as a source for L. bUineata. some descriptive 

 data are suspect. Data for L. bilineata. particularly in the 



introductory tables, may be based in part on L. polyxystra 

 n. sp. (see tables "Pleuronectidae," pages 1370-1373, Char- 

 ter and Moser, 1996). 



Key to juveniles and adults >30 mm of species 

 of Lepidopsetta 



la Preopercular pores 8-13; lateral-line pores 95-119; 



sum of scales above and below lateral line 91-103; 



supraorbital pores 1-3; total gill rakers on first arches 



<10. on upper part of first arch <3 L. mochigarei 



southern Sea of Okhotsk to Korea 



lb Preopercular pores 5-7; lateral-line pores 70-91; sum 

 of scales above and below lateral line 65-88; supraor- 

 bital pores 1-8; total gill rakers on first arch 6-14. . . 2 



2a Total gill rakers on first arch tvpically >10, on upper 

 part of first arch >3; supraorbital pores 1-2, rarely 3-7; 



blind side creamy white L. polyxystra n. sp. 



Puget Sound to Sea of Okhotsk 



2b Total gill rakers on first arch typically <10, on upper 



part of first arch <3; supraorbital pores 3-8; blind side 



with extensive bright white highlights L. bilineata 



Baja California to southeastern Bering Sea 



Lepidopsetta bilineata (Ayres, 1855a) 



Southern rock sole 



Figs. 1-6, 10, 12, 14-18; Tables 2-11, 13-14 



Platessa bilineata Ayres, 1855a:2 (original description, one 

 specimen, apparently lost, sex and size unknown, fish 

 markets of San Francisco Bay California). 



Platichthys iimbrosus Girard. 1856:136 (original descrip- 

 tion, one specimen, apparently lost, sex unknown, ca. 

 190 mm TL, Cape Flattery, Washington). 



Pleuronectes perarcuatus Cope, 1873:32 (original descrip- 

 tion, one specimen; holotype, ANSP 8725, sex unde- 

 termined, 108 mm SL, Gulf of Alaska, "Sitka" or 

 "Unalaska"). 



Lepidopsetta bilineata umbrosa (in part) Jordan and Ever- 

 mann, 1898:2643 (new combination, "Puget Sound and 

 northward"). 



Lepidopsetta bilineata bilineata Taranets. 1937:144 (new 

 combination, keys). 



Pleuronectes bilineata Sakamoto. 1984a:99 (new combina- 

 tion, phylogenetics). 



Neotype 



CAS 42650, 1(207.6 mm), Calif, Gulf of the Farallones, 

 Sta. F43(2)N, M. Moriguchi. August-September 1978. 



Other material examined 



A total of 380 adult and juvenile specimens, 22.7-426 mm, 

 including the neotype listed above, was examined. Sixty- 

 four larvae were examined. 



