there was a marked gradient in development with 

 proximity to the seabed (Fig. 2). All the larvae at 

 6.7 m had unflexed notochords, and most were 

 <2.5 mm NL. Feeding incidence (proportion of 

 larvae with nonempty guts) was 78% at this 

 height. At 1 m, modal larval length was 2.65 mm, 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 86, NO. 2 



with a single postflexion specimen (Fig. 2); feed- 

 ing incidence was 74%. At 0.5 m there were still 

 some preflexion larvae, but a second length mode 

 at 6.8 mm represented postflexion-stage larvae. 

 Feeding incidence was 90%) at 0.5 m above the 

 bottom, being somewhat greater among flexion 



39 n 



O 



CO 



> 

 c5 



o J 



3 



^ 



13 -1 



G. lineatus 



GUTS WITH CONTENTS  

 GUTS EMPTY 



(excludes yolksac stage) 



670 cm 



(n = 109) 



2.0 2.5 3.0 



in ' i 'i 



100 cm 



(n=70) 



2.0 2.5 3.0 



' I ' I n ' I ' I ' I 



5 10 



^ 



fl#^ 



2.0 2.5 3.0 



50 cm 



(n=83) 



Length (mm) 



Figure 2. — Length frequencies of feeding-stage larvae of Genyonemus lineatus at three sampling heights. 



256 



