CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF LARVAE OF SCULPINS (PISCES: 



COTTIDAE AND ALLIES) IN NORTHEAST PACIFIC GENERA 



WITH NOTES ON INTERGENERIC RELATIONSHIPS' 



Sally L. Richardson^ 



ABSTRACT 



Current knowledge of cottid larvae in northeast Pacific genera is summarized. Larvae are known for 

 representatives of 25 of the 40 genera reported from Baja California to the Aleutian Islands although 

 two genera, Gymnocanthus and Icelus, are represented only by species which live in other areas as 

 adults. Included are illustrations of larvae of 29 species representing the 25 genera plus one potentially 

 new northeast Pacific genus, identified only as "Cottoid Type A." 



The larvae exhibit a wide diversity of form. Based on shared larval characters, including spine 

 patterns, body shape, and pigmentation, 6 phenetically derived groups of genera are apparent within 

 the 25 genera for which representatives are considered: 1) Artedius, Clinocottus, Oligocottus, 

 Orthonopias; 2) Paricelinus, Triglops, Icelus, Chitonotus, Icelinus; 3) Dasycottus, Psychrolutes, 

 Gilbertidia, IMalacocottus, "Cottoid Type A"; 4) Scorpaenichthys, Hemilepidotus; 5) Blepsias, 

 Nautichthys; 6) Leptocottus , Cottus. Six genera do not fit with any group: Enophrys, Gymnocanthus , 

 Myoxocephalus, Radulinus. Rhamphocottus, Hemitripterus . 



If these preliminary larval groupings reflect relationship, as evidence indicates, they tend to support 

 a number of previously implied relationships wdthin the cottids, but there are some important 

 differences. These include the distinctiveness of the Artedius (Group 1) line; the separation of 

 Artedius and Icelus, once considered closely related; the relationship of Paricelinus, generally 

 considered a primitive and rather distinct form, with other members of Group 2; the apparent 

 relationship of Icelus to other genera in Group 2 and its questionable placement in a separate family; 

 the distinctiveness of Radulinus, previously considered to be related to Chitonotus and Icelinus. 



The Cottidae, which in this paper are considered 

 broadly to include sculpinlike fishes of Cottidae, 

 Icelidae, Cottocomephoridae, Comephoridae, Nor- 

 manichthyidae, Cottunculidae, and Psychrolut- 

 idae of the suborder Cottoidei of Greenwood et al. 

 (1966), comprises a diverse group of temperate and 

 boreal fishes. Nelson (1976) estimated that the 

 group may contain over 350 species, three-fourths 

 marine, in about 86 genera. They are generally 

 coastal fishes inhabiting all oceans but the Indian. 

 Greatest species diversity occurs in the North 

 Pacific. The systematics of the group are not well 

 understood (Quast 1965; Nelson 1976). 



Until recently, larvae of relatively few cottids 

 had been described. They were a difficult group to 

 identify in ichthyoplankton collections, particu- 

 larly in the northeast Pacific where 40 genera are 

 reported to occur between Baja California and the 



'This paper was presented at the Second International Sym- 

 posium on The Early Life History of Fish (sponsored by ICES, 

 lAO, ICNAF, lAOB, SCOR) held at Woods Hole, Mass., 2-5 April 

 1979. An abstract of the paper appeared in the sjrmposium 

 publication. 



^Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, East Beach Drive, Ocean 

 Springs, MS 39564. 



Aleutian Islands (Table 1). With the recent work 

 by Richardson and Washington (1980), larvae are 

 now known for representatives of 25 of these 40 

 cottid genera, although two genera, Icelus and 

 Gymnocanthus, are represented only by larvae of 

 species that live in other areas as adults. 



The purpose of this paper is twofold. It presents 

 for the first time a summary of important cottid 

 larval characters (those characters occurring only 

 during the larval period and most useful in identi- 

 fying and distinguishing species) based on the 

 larvae of these 25 northeast Pacific genera. (Lar- 

 vae of these genera that are known for species 

 inhabiting other areas as adults are also con- 

 sidered.) This knowledge, which is a necessary 

 prerequisite for systematic studies using larvae, is 

 presented to provide a foundation to which future 

 work on cottid larvae can be compared and upon 

 which it can be expanded as more larvae become 

 known. The paper also presents a preliminary 

 examination of generic groupings within these 

 northeast Pacific cottid genera based on shared 

 larval characters, i.e., similarity. These phenetic 

 groupings, even though preliminary, are helpful 



Manuscript accepted August 1980. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 79, NO. 1, 1981. 



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