tion between 5.6 and 6.9 mm NL, and the full 

 count of seven rays per side is present on late 

 flexion specimens. Gill rakers begin to develop by 

 late flexion, but the full count is not obtained until 

 the early juvenile stage. Few teeth form during 

 the larval period. Only a single tooth is developed 

 on the right side of the upper jaw in postflexion 

 larvae, compared with 3-6 on the left side of this 

 jaw. The disproportion is less marked in the lower 

 jaw, with 3-5 teeth on the right side compared with 

 5-7 on the left side. 



Distribution . — This species ranges from Point 

 Reyes, Calif., south to Magdalena Bay, Baja 

 California, with an isolated population at the 

 northern end of the Gulf of California (Norman 

 1934; Fitch 1963). Eggs and larvae are common in 

 our collections, particularly at inshore stations 

 located over the continental shelf, with only an 

 occasional specimen being taken more than 60 mi 

 from the coast (Figure 13). 



Pleitrotiichthys ocellatiis Starks and 



Thompson (Gulf turbot) 



Figure 14 



Literature. — Neither eggs nor larvae have been 

 described previously. 



Distinguishing characters. — This species may 

 only be confused with P. verticalis or H. guttulata 

 which cooccur with it in the upper Gulf of Califor- 

 nia. Larvae may be distinguished from P. ver- 

 ticalis by the lower total vertebral number of 34 or 

 35 and pigmentation differences. The larger size of 

 larvae, lack of pterotic spines, and different pig- 

 ment pattern separate iifrom H. guttulata . Meris- 

 tics of the larvae and juveniles, given in Table 12, 

 are distinctive for the species. 



Pigmentation . — Only two postflexion larvae (6.6 

 mm SL and 7.0 mm SLi were available. Both 

 specimens are heavily pigmented and somewhat 

 resemble similar stages of P. verticalis larvae 

 (Figure 14 vs. Figure 9D). However, smaller sized 

 larvae of P. ocellatiis are heavier in pigment than 

 P. verticalis in regions of the head and dorsal and 

 anal fin pterygiophores. Only the margin of the 

 opercle, otic region, pectoral fin. and caudal 

 peduncle remain unpigmented. 



Morphology. — Larvae of P. occllalus are inter- 

 mediate in size between comparable stages of P. 



126 



129° 



40' 



35' 



30' 



25" 



20= 



FISHERY BULLETIN VOL. 77. NO 1 

 125° 121° 



-r 



7^ 



/" 



s^CAPE 

 MENDOCINO 



vSAN , 



FRANCISCO 



cS^ 



SAN 



"DIEGO 



44° 



40° 



35° 



30° 



25° 



115° 



106° 



Fli'rl'RE 13. — Distribution of eggs and lar\*ae of Pleuronichthys 

 verticalis examined in this study. (Triangles represent eggs, 

 open circles larvae, and closed circles eggs and larvae.) 



rilterl and P. verticalis (Table 13). It is the most 

 slender-bodied species having the smallest body 

 depth ratios in the po.stflexion larval stage within 

 its genus (Table 5). 



