STEVENS ET AL.: LARVAE AND JUVENILES OF THREE KYPHOSID FISHES 



terns of lateral body pigment in kyphosines. The 

 pattern in H. azurea larvae is essentially like 

 that in Girella and Medialuna. It begins as a 

 midlateral series on the tail and fills in the unpig- 

 mented region above, below, and anteriad to it. 

 In Kyphosus sectatrix and K. incisor lateral pig- 

 ment extends along the entire epaxial region of 

 the body (Moore 1962). In K. cirierascens and K. 

 vaigeusis (bigibbus"!) larvae a broad zone of 

 lateral body pigment expands to cover unpig- 

 mented regions above, below, anteriad, and 

 posteriad to it (Mito 1958b; Leis and Rennis 

 1983). 



Ontogenetic divergence among kyphosid 

 fishes is greater during the pelagic juvenile 

 stage than in larvae. The silvery pelagic juve- 

 niles of Girella, which transform abruptly to 

 oUve benthic juveniles, are well known. Appar- 

 ently, Medialuna not only has a silvery pelagic 

 juvenile too, but also has a strongly variegated 

 pattern on the dorsal and anal fins. The pelagic 

 juveniles of//, azurea are strongly mottled. This 

 feature is shared with other kyphosines, some of 

 which exhibit a striking pattern of pale spots {K. 

 sectatrix and K. incisor [Moore 1962]; K. 

 cinerascens [Mito 1958b]; K. vaigensis {bigib- 

 bus'!) [W. Watson, pers. obs.]). 



Ontogenetic stages of kyphosid fishes provide 

 a promising array of systematic characters. The 

 utility of these characters in assessing phylo- 

 genetic relationships is limited by our present 

 inability to identify shared derived character 

 states through outgroup comparison. The solu- 

 tion to this problem awaits a broader knowledge 

 of ontogeny in kyphophids and other groups in 

 the percoid series. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Illustrations and photographs of larvae and 

 juveniles were prepared by Henry Orr and 

 George Mattson. Roy Allen drafted the distri- 

 bution charts. Lorraine Prescott processed the 

 manuscript. Richard Charter and Cynthia 

 Meyer provided valuable assistance in using the 

 CalCOFI data base. Elaine Acuna, David Am- 

 brose, and Barbara MacCall provided much tech- 

 nical assistance throughout the course of the 

 study. We thank Richard Rosenblatt and H. J. 

 Walker for the use of specimens from the Scripps 

 Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, and 

 two anonymous reviewers for their constructive 

 suggestions. Discussions with G. David Johnson 

 helped in gaining a perspective of relationships 

 of these fishes. 



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