FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82. NO. 1 



TABLE 1.— Summary of nine morphological features of specimens of Stenotomus chrysops as shown 



by their percentages of standard length. 



'Notochord flexion 



Preanal length: Tip of snout to anus measured along 



midline of body. 

 Head length: Tip of snout to posterior margin of otic 



capsules in young larvae; tip of snout to cleithrum 



once it is apparent. 

 Eye diameter: Horizontal distance between anterior 



and posterior edges of orbit. 

 Snout length: Tip of snout to anterior margin of 



eye. 

 Body depth: Vertical height of body at pectoral 



axis. 

 Prepectoral length: Tip of snout to axil of pectoral 



fin, or its anlage, measured along midline of body. 

 Prepelvic length: Tip of snout to axil of pelvic fins, 



measured along midline of body. 

 Meristics: Fin rays and spines were counted as they 



became apparent. Myomeres (total, precaudal, and 



caudal) were counted. Seventeen specimens were 



cleared and stained by Hollister's method (Hollister 



1934) to determine the ossification sequence of 



78 



developing skeletal elements to verify counts of 

 bony structures. 



DESCRIPTION 



Eggs 



The scup egg is spherical, buoyant, and transparent. 

 The shell is unsculptured and the yolk unsegmented. 

 It has one gold-colored oil globule that is posterior in 

 the yolk sac and bears black pigment. The yolk is 

 about 187( and the oil globule about 21% of the egg 

 diameter. The average diameter of the 97 eggs we 

 measured was 0.93 mm (range 0.81-1.00 mm). They 

 hatched in 70-75 h at 18°C and in 44-54 h at 21°C. 

 These measurements and the incubation time are 

 similar to those found by others for this species 

 (Kuntz and Radcliffe 1917; Perlmutter 1939; 

 Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; Wheatland 1956). 



