POWLES: DESCMPTIONS OF LARVAL SILVER PERCH, BANDED DRUM, AND STAR DRUM 

 T.\BLE 1. — Continued. 



sciaenids. Jannke^ illustrated 5. chrysoura of 2.0 

 and 5.0 mm SL (standard length). Hildebrand and 

 Cable (1934) described a series identified as 

 Larimus fasciatus. Although there is some dis- 

 agreement between illustrations and descriptions 

 of early larvae in this work, the series appears 

 to represent a single species and to be correctly 

 identified. Hildebrand and Cable also described 

 larvae and juveniles identified as Stellifer 

 lanceolatus . Their early larvae represent a mixed 

 series; larvae <4 mm long had pectoral fin pig- 

 ment and developed pectoral rays, but larvae >4.5 

 mm long had no pectoral pigment and pectoral 

 rays that developed at ^5.6 mm. Body proportions 

 also changed between 4.0 and 4.5 mm. Their series 

 appears coherent and correctly identified at 

 lengths 5=5.6 mm. There were also some dis- 

 crepancies between drawings and descriptions of 

 early stages in their paper. 



The purpose of the present paper is to redescribe 

 larvae of these three species and to summarize 

 characters for differentiating between the three 

 species. In addition, notes are given on time and 

 place of larval collections and on separation of 

 larvae of these three species from those of other 

 marine sciaenids of the southeastern United 

 States. 



METHODS 



of North Carolina. Those from continental shelf 

 waters were collected with Boothbay neuston nets 

 (mouth 1 m high x 2 m wide, mesh size 0.947 mm, 

 tow velocity 2.6 m/s), MARMAP neuston nets 

 (mouth 0.5 X 1.0 m, mesh size 0.505 mm, tow 

 velocity 1 .0 m/s), and 60 cm bongo nets ( mesh size 

 0.505 mm, towing velocity 0.8 m/s) towed in a 

 double oblique pattern between surface and bot- 

 tom or 200 m depth. Specimens from South 

 Carolina estuaries were collected with 0.5 m 

 diameter conical nets (mesh size 0.571 mm, towing 

 velocity 1.3-1.5 m/s) towed at surface or bottom. 

 South Carolina tidal passes were sampled with 1.0 

 m mouth diameter plankton nets (mesh size 0.571 

 mm) moored to bridges or piers and fished near 

 bottom for 1 h at early or middle flood tide. Speci- 

 mens from the Cape Fear River estuary were col- 

 lected with 1.0 m mouth diameter conical nets 

 (mesh size 0.760 mm) towed at surface at 0.5 m/s. 

 The number of samples available from each area 

 except the Cape Fear River estuary by month (Ta- 

 ble 2) provides an estimate of seasonal and areal 

 effort distribution for comparison with data on 

 time and place of capture of larvae. Tidal pass 

 sampling was not carried out from August to 

 January, and estuarine samples from August to 

 December were not available. All specimens were 

 preserved in 2% formaldehyde buffered by 

 saturating with borax. Specimens from continen- 



Approximately 50 specimens of each species 

 were examined. Descriptions are based on the fol- 

 lowing numbers of specimens: silver perch, Bair- 

 diella chrysoura, 21; banded drum, Larimus fas- 

 ciatus, 21; star drum, Stellifer lanceolatus, 26. 



Specimens on which descriptions were based 

 were collected from continental shelf waters of the 

 South Atlantic Bight, estuaries and tidal passes of 

 South Carolina, and the Cape Fear River estuary 



^Jannke, T. E. 1971. Abundance of young sciaenid fishes 

 in Everglades National Park, Fla., in relation to season and 

 other variables. Univ. Miami Sea Grant Tech. Bull. 11:1-128. 



Table 2. — Numbers of plankton samples from South Carolina 

 estuaries (1974), South Carolina tidal passes (1976), and the 

 South Atlantic Bight continental shelf (1973-76) that were 

 sorted for larval Sciaenidae. 



121 



