FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 80, NO. 4 



down at an angle of 20°-30° while those with 

 the bladder inflated would swim with the tail 

 slightly up. By 12-13 d the bladders of nearly all 

 larvae had been inflated. 



At 13 d posthatch the first traces of the juvenile 

 color pattern began to appear (Fig. 4a) with the 

 development of three pigmented lobes on the 

 base of the anal fin. Widely scattered brown 

 chromatophores appeared on the body, but 

 showed no discernible pattern. At this point the 

 full complement of dorsal, anal, and caudal fin 

 rays had been developed, but the pectoral rays 

 did not seem fully developed. The pelvic fins con- 



sisted of only a slight bulge and the first three 

 spines of the dorsal fin were elongated compared 

 with those more posterior. At this stage the fish 

 were considered to be postlarvae. 



At 17 d the body had a distinct brown and 

 white color pattern (Fig. 4b) with the first three 

 dorsal spines elongated. At this stage there was 

 little difficulty identifying the postlarvae as L. 

 maximus. The postlarvae did not orient to the 

 bottom of the rearing tank, but remained free- 

 swimming. The lights of the rearing tank were 

 extinguished for the first time overnight at 17 d 

 posthatch. Over one-half of the larvae formed 



2 mm 



Figure 4.— Larval stages of Lachnolaimus maximus. a, 13 d posthatch; b, 17 d posthatch; c. 25 d posthatch. 



860 



