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



premaxillary at ^5.7 mm and at the tip of the 

 lower jaw at ssT.S mm. A melanophore is usually 

 present on the medial surface of each dentary at 

 3.1-7.0 mm, while at 5^7.5 mm, one or several 

 melanophores consistently occur in this position. 

 Melanophores are present above the anterior part 

 of the midbrain, and above the eye, at 2^7.0 mm. 

 Melanophores are present on the surface of the 

 midbrain at its junction with the hindbrain at 

 5^5.7 mm, and on the dorsal surface of the fore- 

 brain at ^7.7 mm. Two melanophores occur in the 

 midventral line on the ventral surface of the vis- 

 ceral mass: one midway between the cleithral 

 symphysis and the anus (between the pelvic fin 

 bases when these are developed), present at 3=3.3 

 mm, and another on the anterioventral surface of 

 the anus, present at 3.1-5.0 mm. A melanophore 

 midway between these is occasionally present at 

 3.5-4.7 mm and always present at 224.8 mm. On 

 the posterior surface of the visceral mass, above 

 the anus, a melanophore is present at 3=4.9 mm; 

 this melanophore becomes increasingly branched 

 and dark at &5.7 mm. 



Body surface pigment increases in extent in 

 late larvae (^7.0 mm). This includes a cluster of 

 melanophores in the dorsal midline anterior to 

 the spinous dorsal fin, a group of melanophores 

 ventral to this cluster, a group on the dorsal sur- 

 face of the head, and a group on the lateral sur- 

 face of the visceral mass. 



larval S. lanceolatus. Late larvae of this series 

 have the broadly rounded caudal fin characteristic 

 of 5. chrysoura (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928; 

 Dahlberg 1975) while late larvae of S. lanceolatus 

 have the lanceolate caudal fin characteristic of the 

 adult. Finally, larvae of my series are similar in 

 major characters (the swath of pigment between 

 head and visceral mass, midventral pigment pos- 

 terior to the anus) to the larvae described by 

 Kuntz (1915), which were apparently correctly 

 identified. 



Spawning season and area. Larval B. chrysoura 

 occurred in six surface and six bottom tows in May 

 and in five surface and five bottom tows in June 

 1974 in South Carolina estuaries. None occurred 

 between January and April or in July. In South 

 Carolina tidal passes, larvae occurred in two May 

 samples, one June sample, and one July sample, 

 and did not occur between February and April. A 

 single specimen was taken in continental shelf 

 waters, in a bongo net tow made in 31 m on 8 April 

 1974 (Figure 2). Thus spawning appears to occur 

 primarily in coastal and estuarine waters of the 

 southeastern United States, at least from April 

 through July. Spawning may occur later in the 

 year, but no samples after July from coastal and 

 estuarine waters were examined. 



Larimus fasciatus 



Identification of the series. This series was iden- 

 tified as fi. chrysoura by fin ray counts, pigmenta- 

 tion, caudal fin shape, and similarity to a pub- 

 lished description. Fin ray counts (dorsal 21-22, 

 anal 9) of late larvae in the series could have been 

 attributed to Menticirrhus americanus, M. 

 saxatilis, or Stellifer lanceolatus as well as B. 

 chrysoura. A series o^ Menticirrhus larvae (iden- 

 tified by presence of a single mental barbel at &9.2 

 mm, tentatively as M. americanus), which I have 

 examined, is characterized by heavy and exten- 

 sive body pigment, and the absence of such pig- 

 ment in larvae of the series described here indi- 

 cated that it was B. chrysoura rather than M. 

 americanus. Heavy body pigmentation has been 

 described for M. americanus (Hildebrand and 

 Cable 1934) and M. saxatilis (Scotton et al. 1973). 

 Although species identifications in those descrip- 

 tions may not be accurate, heavy body pigmenta- 

 tion is probably characteristic of larvae of the 

 genus Menticirrhus. Caudal fin shape distin- 

 guished larvae of the series here described from 



Morphology. Body proportions change little dur- 

 ing development (Table 5). The larvae are deep 

 bodied (depth at cleithral symphysis >35% SL, 

 except for a 3.8 mm specimen). Preanus length is 

 >50% SL in all specimens but one. Positions of the 

 fins change little during development. Anus to 

 anal fin distance is variable in length, <6% SL in 

 most larvae but with a maximum value of 10.2% 

 SL. Caudal peduncle depth increases with de- 

 velopment, from <9% SL at «4.2 mm to >9% SL 

 in most larger specimens. 



Preopercular spines are present in all larvae. 

 Lateral spines are smaller than marginal spines, 

 and numbers in both series increase with growrth. 

 One or two small posttemporal spines and a low, 

 spinous supraorbital ridge are present at ^5.5 

 mm. 



Fin development. The pectoral fins are present 

 throughout development (Table 6). Pectoral ele- 

 ments are first present at 3^4.0 mm; elements are 

 incomplete at 5.9 mm, the largest larva available 



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