Luthy et al : Identification of larval sallfish, white marhn, and blue marlin in the western North Atlantic Ocean 



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Identification methods 



Combination of species diagnostic lower jaw pigment 

 patterns, regression equations, and month of capture 

 resulted in the identification key found in Table 3. Of 

 the 304 larvae that were examined with the key by 

 the authors, only one was misidentified. This was an 

 8.02-mm blue marlin that was mistakenly identified 

 as a sailfish by question 6a in part I of the key. Of the 

 remaining fish, 31 larvae, all between 4 mm and 10 mm 

 SL could not be identified with the key. An additional 



62 larvae, again mostly less than 10 mm SL, could be 

 narrowed down to only two species possibilities. Overall, 

 69.1% of the fish were correctly identified to species. 

 Accuracy improved with size. Eighty-five of the 93 larvae 

 that could not be identified by the key were plotted as 

 unknowns on the ordination (reduced set of variables), 

 at which time correct identification was obtained for 

 71 of them. Seven larvae could not be identified at all, 

 and seven were incorrectly identified because they were 

 plotted at the interface of two species groupings. The 

 remaining eight were incompatible with CVA because 



