RICHARDSON: CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF SCULPIN LARVAE 



Figure 2. — Larvae of A) Artedius harringtoni (3.0 mm NL) and B) Orthonopias triads ( = 4 mm) (A, Richardson and Washington 



1980; B, Bolin 1941). 



The tentative placement of Icelus with this 

 group is of interest as it has been considered to 

 constitute a distinct family, the Icelidae (Jordan 

 1923; Greenwood et al. 1966) based on the presence 

 of scales in adults. Although larvae of Icelus are 

 known to the author only from descriptions in the 

 literature (Table 1), they strongly resemble other 

 members of this group in form and preopercular 

 spine pattern. Inclusion of Paricelinus is also of 

 interest as it has been considered to be a rather 

 distinct and primitive form (Bolin 1947). It pos- 

 sesses five pelvic soft rays, the ancestral condition, 

 whereas the number of soft rays is reduced to three 

 or two in other members of the group. 



Group 3 



Group 3 (Figure 4) consists of the "psychrolutid" 

 cottids [Dasycottus, Psychrolutes, Gilbertidia, 

 ? Malacocottus ^ "Cottoid Type A" (new genus?)] 



^Identification of larvae is tentative pending resolution of 

 taxonomic problems of adults at the generic level [see Howe £md 

 Richardson footnote 3 and also Richardson, S. L., and C. E. 

 Bond. 1978. Two unusual cottoid fishes from the northeast 

 Pacific. Unpubl. manuscr., 6 p. + 25 figs. (Available from senior 

 author.) (Paper presented at the American Society of Ichthyolo- 

 gists and Herpetologists, 1978.)] 



often considered a separate family (Nelson 1976). 

 ["Cottoid Type A" may possibly be Psychrolutes 

 phrictus but positive identification awaits addi- 

 tional specimens — see Discussion by Richardson 

 and Washington (1980). If it is P. phrictus, larval 

 evidence indicates that the species is incorrectly 

 placed and that a new northeast Pacific genus of 

 cottid is in need of description.] This group is not 

 as cohesive as the two previous groups. The most 

 distinctive character of Group 3 is the pattern of 

 pigmentation of the pectoral fin, a pattern not 

 found in any of the other genera considered. In all, 

 at least the basal portion of the fin develops 

 pigment with the entire fin pigmented in Psychro- 

 lutes, Gilbertidia, and small (<9 mm SL) ?Mala- 

 cocottus. Pigment on small (<8 mm SL) Dasycot- 

 tus is restricted to the inside surface of the pectoral 

 fin base but later it develops distally on the outer 

 surface. (The pigment band near the margin of the 

 elongated pectoral fin of Nautichthys is a very 

 different pattern.) Only Dasycottus and IMala- 

 cocottus develop four preopercular spines, the 

 latter genus with an accessory spine at the base of 

 the second spine. All but the more slender Dasy- 

 cottus have relatively rounded snouts and deep 

 bodies. Both ? Malacocottus and "Cottoid Type A" 



109 



