FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL, 77, NO, 1 



Based on examination of gonads, Westrheim 

 (1975) reported that parturition of S. hel- 

 vomaculatus takes place primarily in June from 

 Oregon to British Columbia. We took small larvae 

 >10 mm only in July and August. Pelagic 

 juveniles were captured in August, September, 

 and November. The two benthic juveniles were 

 taken in July. 



Adults of S. helvomaculatux are uncommon in 

 Oregon trawl landings iNiska 1976). They ranked 

 9th and 16th in biomass in trawl surveys on the 

 Oregon continental shelf and 8th on the continen- 

 tal slope together with S. elongatus and S. zacen- 

 triis (Demory et al. 1976). Larvae and juveniles 

 were not common in our collections. 



COMPARISONS (TABLE 13) 



Prior to this paper, developmental series of 7 of 

 the 69 northeast Pacific (including the Gulf of Cal- 



ifornia) species of Sehastes had been described: S. 

 cortezi, S. sp. Gulf Type A, S. jordani, S. levis, S. 

 macdonaldi , S. melanostomus , and S. paucispinis 

 (Moser 1967, 1972; Moser et al. 1977; Moser and 

 Ahlstrom 1978). While pelagic stages of these 

 species exhibit some similarities to the three de- 

 scribed by us, they also differ in a number of 

 characters. The most notable of these are discus- 

 sed here in a comparative sense. 



Flexion and postlarvae of S. pinniger are quite 

 deep bodied (38-40/f SL) although body depth at 

 the pectoral fin base decreases considerably (33'7f 

 SL) by the pelagic juvenile stage. Larvae and 

 juveniles of S. melanostomus are also deep bodied. 

 Pelagic stages of S. Jordani are comparatively 

 slender (17-24'7< SL). Prior to completion of 

 notochord flexion, S. paucispinis is also relatively 

 slender bodied. Pelagic stages of S. crameri, S. 

 he/vomaculatus. S. levis. and S. macdonaldi are 

 somewhat intermediate in body depth. Snout to 



TABLE13, — Morphometric comparison of larvae and juveniles of nine species ofSebastes from the northeast Pacific. Values are mean 

 percentages of body proportions related to standard length (SL) or head length <HLl, Numbers m italics represent values for two 

 developmental stages combined. 



'Values from Ivloser et al, (1977) and Moser and Ahlstrom (1978) 



38 



