FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 84, NO. 4 



Table 3.— Gut contents of laboratory-reared giant kelpfish larvae, 3 d to 5 wk, indicating mean numbers 

 and sizes of prey items. N = 18 (N = 3/sample). Laboratory diets 0-3 wk consisted of Tetraselmis and 

 Brachionus. Acartia copepods were added to the diet at 2 wk. Sizes of kelpfish (TL, mm) and mean sizes 

 of prey items (width x length) given. 



Table 4.— Gut contents of field-collected giant kelpfish larvae 6.24-8.2 mm TL. N = 4. Mean TL 

 of kelpfish = 6.93 mm (range 6.24-8.82 mm). Mean mouth width = 0.42 mm (0.40-0.44 mm). 



tic during the next few weeks, darting amongst the 

 artificial plants placed in their containers. Similar- 

 ly, kelpfish individuals observed in situ had "settled" 

 onto juvenile habitats by 30-50 mm TL. Juvenile 

 habitats included the fronds of giant kelp; the brown 

 alga, Sargassum muticum; and green surfgrass. 

 Juveniles were usually in loose aggregations of three 

 to seven similar-sized individuals until reaching a 

 size of 7-9 cm TL. 



At 5-7 cm (between 2 and 4 mo), laboratory-reared 

 and field-collected giant kelpfish lost their trans- 

 parent light gold-colored appearance, developing 

 either green, gold, or brown pigmentation depend- 

 ing on their juvenile habitat, whether surfgrass, 

 kelp, or Sargassum. The majority of juveniles found 

 in surfgrass were green with striped or mottled 



melanin patterns and had silvery horizontal patches. 

 Those in kelp were usually plain or mottled gold- 

 brown with gold bellies while those in Sargassum 

 developed brown pigmentation and barred or mot- 

 tled melanin patterns (see Stepien 1985 and 1986 

 for detailed descriptions of color patterns). 



Morphometries of Larvae, 

 Juveniles, and Adults 



The SL and TL of giant kelpfish larvae were 

 linearly related (Fig. 7). Early growth (to 40 d) of 

 laboratory-reared larvae was logarithmic (Fig. 8A) 

 while length and age were linearly related between 

 1 and 9 mo of age (Fig. 8B). Otoliths of laboratory- 

 reared kelpfish showed abnormal ring patterns, 



818 



