mann (1892), Turner (1938), and Wiebe (1968) and 

 Embiotoca jacksoni by Lagios (1965). 



The seasonal testicular cycle is summarized in 

 Table 1. From August to November, testes are 

 regressed with the seminiferous tubules contain- 

 ing mainly spermatogonia and Sertoli cells. Tes- 

 ticular recrudescence (i.e., renewal of the germi- 

 nal epithelium to start a new cycle) was evident in 

 December. The testicular cycle was far advanced 

 in one December male whose testes contained 

 small clusters of sperm. The major period of sper- 

 miogenesis (sperm formation) occurred from 

 March through June (Table 1). Germinal 

 epithelium was exhausted or greatly reduced in 

 seminiferous tubules of regressing testes which 

 were first observed (Table 1) in June males. In 

 these testes, lumina are typically filled with com- 

 pact sperm cysts called spermatophores by Wiebe 

 (1968). Some breeding may conceivably continue 

 as late as July because residual sperm cysts 

 lingered into this month in the regressing testes of 

 three males. While the exact duration of the mat- 

 ing season is not known for Z. rosaceus, the tes- 

 ticular cycle seems to indicate that it encompasses 

 March-June. 



Embryos were observed for the first time in 

 ovarian histological sections from 7 of 15 August 

 females. The gestation period appears to last 

 about 5-7 mo as one December and one January 

 female gave birth while in the otter trawl aboard 

 ship, and females that had recently given birth, as 

 well as several that were still gravid, were found 

 in the January and March 1977 samples. The 23 

 gravid females that were examined contained a 

 mean of 3.5 young (range 2-6). A sample of 26 

 near-term young that were removed from females 

 during this period averaged 34 mm SL. 



There appear to be two trends in the timing of 

 the reproductive cycles of California embiotocids. 

 In the first, breeding occurs mainly during au- 



tumn with the young being born in spring and 

 summer. This group includes Amphistichus 

 argenteus (Carlisle et al. 1960), Brachyistius fre- 

 natus (Feder et al. 1974), Damalichthys vacca 

 (Feder et al. 1974), E. jacksoni (Lagios 1965), 

 Hyperprosopon argenteum Rechnitzer and Lim- 

 baugh 1952), and H. ellipticum (Feder et al. 1974). 

 Young of D. vacca may appear as late as October 

 (Feder et al. 1974). In the second group, breeding 

 takes place during the summer with parturition 

 occurring the following spring and summer. This 

 group includes Amphigonopterus ( = Micrometrus) 

 aurora, Micrometrus minimus (Hubbs 1921), and 

 C.aggregata (Bane and Robinson 1970; Shaw etal. 

 1974). 



The timing of the reproductive cycle of Z. 

 rosaceus with mating in the spring and parturi- 

 tion in the winter is a pattern clearly distinct from 

 that currently known for any other California em- 

 biotocid. The advantages of this type of cycle are 

 not clear at this time and further studies on the 

 biology of this species will be necessary. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank the following persons for aiding in the 

 collection of specimens: M. James Allen (Southern 

 California Coastal Water Research Project), John 

 S. Stephens (Occidental College), Mark Howe 

 (Orange County Board of Education, Marine 

 Laboratory), and Michael Hynes (Orange County 

 Sanitation District, Marine Laboratory). Camm 

 C. Swift allowed us to examine specimens from the 

 ichthyology collection of the Los Angeles County 

 Museum of Natural History. Portions of this paper 

 are from a Master of Science thesis submitted by 

 the junior author to the Department of Biology, 

 Whittier College, on May 1974. We thank A. War- 

 ren Hanson and Inez M. Hull for their help in the 

 preparation of this thesis. 



TABLE 1. — Monthly samples otZalembius rosaceus showing per- 

 centage of males in various stages of the testicular cycle. 



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