FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 80, NO. 1 



takenly described Bothus sp. larvae as E. cros- 

 sotus. 



In this paper I present descriptions of larvae of 

 C. cornutus, C. gymnorhinus, C. spilopterus, and 

 E. crossotus and summarize data useful for iden- 

 tifying Citharichthys and Etropus larvae. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Abbreviations 



The following institutional abbreviations are 

 used: CP&L = Carolina Power and Light Com- 

 pany, Raleigh, N.C.; GCRL = Gulf Coast Re- 

 search Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Miss.; GMBL 

 = Grice Marine Biological Laboratory, College of 

 Charleston, S.C.; LSU = Louisiana State Univer- 

 sity, Baton Rouge; NCSU = North Carolina State 

 University, Raleigh; NMFS = National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA (four laboratories — 

 Beaufort, Galveston, Panama City, and La Jolla); 

 OSU = Oregon State University, Corvallis; 

 RSMAS = Rosenstiel School of Marine and 

 Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Fla.; 

 SCMRRI = South Carolina Marine Resources 

 Research Institute, Charleston; Texas A&M = 

 Texas A&M University, College Station; UNC = 

 University of North Carolina, Institute of Ma- 

 rine Sciences, Morehead City; USNM = U.S. 

 National Museum of Natural History, Smith- 

 sonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; VIMS = 

 Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester 

 Point. 



Specimens 



Larval and juvenile specimens used in this 

 study were obtained from several sources. Forty- 

 seven C cornutus specimens from SCMRRI 

 (MARMAP ichthyoplankton survey) collections 

 in the South Atlantic Bight and five specimens 

 from RSMAS collections from the Gulf of Mexico 

 off western Florida were used for morpho- 

 metries, counts, and general development. Seven 

 additional RSMAS specimens were used for 

 counts. Other specimens from NMFS (Beaufort) 

 collections in Onslow Bay, off North Carolina, 

 were used for comparison. Twenty-eight C gym- 

 norhinus specimens from SCMRRI collections 

 and 12 from RSMAS collections were used for 

 morphometries, counts, and general develop- 

 ment. Other specimens from NMFS (Beaufort) 

 collections were used for comparison. Fifty-five 

 C. spilopterus specimens from NCSU and per- 



36 



sonal collections in the Cape Fear River estuary, 

 one from a CP&L collection in the ocean just off 

 Cape Fear, and three from Texas A&M collec- 

 tions in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas were used 

 for morphometries, counts, and general develop- 

 ment. Other specimens from Texas A&M, 

 NMFS (Beaufort, Galveston, and Panama City), 

 and RSMAS collections were used for compari- 

 son and additional count data. Thirty E. cros- 

 sotus specimens from LSU collections from the 

 Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana and one from a 

 NCSU collection were used for morphometries, 

 counts, and general development. Other speci- 

 mens from Texas A&M collections were used for 

 comparison. 



Comparative larval material of other species 

 was also examined. Citharichthys sp. A (prob- 

 ably C. abbotti) specimens came from Texas 

 A&M; Citharichthys arctifrons specimens from 

 NMFS (Beaufort), SCMRRI, and VIMS; a Cith- 

 arichthys sp. B (probably C. dinoceros) specimen 

 from RSMAS; and Citharichthys (macrops'!) 

 specimens from GCRL, RSMAS, and VIMS. 

 Larvae of the eastern Pacific species Citharich- 

 thys sordidus, C stigmaeus, and C xanthostigma 

 came from NMFS (La Jolla). Other specimens of 

 Pacific Citharichthys spp. came from OSU; 

 Etropus microstomus specimens from NMFS 

 (Beaufort) and VIMS; Etropus sp. A (probably 

 E. rimosus) specimens from CP&L, NMFS 

 (Panama City), and RSMAS; Cyclopsetta fim- 

 briata specimens from NMFS (Beaufort), 

 RSMAS, SCMRRI, and Texas A&M; and Syaci- 

 um papillosum specimens from RSMAS and 

 Texas A&M. 



Juvenile and adult specimens were examined 

 to determine permanent characters. Specimens 

 of C. arctifrons, C. macrops, C. spilopterus, E. 

 crossotus, E. intermedius (cf. E. crossotus), E. 

 microstomus, and E. rimosus came from USNM; 

 Citharichthys cornutus and C. gymnorhinus 

 specimens from GMBL; Citharichthys macrops 

 specimens from UNC and a personal collection; 

 and Citharichthys spilopterus and E. crossotus 

 specimens from NCSU. 



Description of caudal skeleton development 

 was based on study of the entire developmental 

 series of C. cornutus and comparison with the 

 series of the three other species described. 

 Calcified components of the caudal skeletons of 

 nearly all the specimens could be seen following 

 light staining with Alizarin Red S in 1% aqueous 

 potassium hydroxide solution. Twenty cleared 

 and stained (Taylor 1967) specimens were exam- 



