Preface 



The National Marine Fisheries Service organized, supported and conducted an international symposium entitled 

 Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes, held in La JoUa, California on August 15-18, 1983, and dedicated to the memory 

 of Elbert Halvor Ahlstrom. Dr. R, Lasker served as convener. The papers presented at that symposium form the basis 

 for this book, which is published by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists as their Supplement to 

 Copeia, Special Publication Number 1 . Financial support was provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service, National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. 



For many years. Dr. Ahlstrom planned to write a book on larval fishes and ways in which they contributed to systematics. 

 A few years before his untimely death, he and his colleague H. G. Moser outlined such a book and began to work on 

 the initial chapters. Dr. Ahlstrom left a vast store of notes, data, and partly completed manuscnpts. Dr. Moser realized 

 that much of the significance of these unique and important data would be lost unless they were brought to light. He 

 approached colleagues at the Southwest Fisheries Center to gather a group of larval fish workers who had worked closely 

 with Dr. Ahlstrom, and who were given access to his notes, to collaborate on the book. From this initiative a plan 

 developed to conduct a symposium and publish the results in a book to accomplish the original plan of Dr. Ahlstrom 

 and honor his memory as one of the nation's foremost fishery scientists. 



A symposium steering committee was formed with H. G. Moser as Chairman and consisted of D. M. Cohen, M. P. 

 Fahay, A. W. Kendall, Jr.. W. J. Richards and S. L. Richardson. The steering committee first met in Boulder, Colorado 

 to develop an outline for the symposium and book and invite potential contributors. The aim was to present the current 

 state of knowledge of early life history of fishes and apply that to systematics. Originally it was intended to concentrate 

 solely on the marine groups with which Dr. Ahlstrom had worked, but because of recent advances in freshwater and 

 other early life history work, the plan was expanded to include all but the primitive osteoglossomorphs. Thus, the coverage 

 was to start with the elopomorphs. 



Following the Boulder meeting, potential contributors were contacted and responded enthusiastically. The Steering 

 Committee met subsequently in Ocean Springs, Mississippi and Miami, Florida to review progress and refine plans. 

 Because of the subject matter it seemed appropriate that the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 

 collaborate in publishing the papers resulting from the symposium. C. R. Robins, then President of ASIH, supported 

 this suggestion and assisted in many ways. Subsequent to the symposium, manuscripts were reviewed and edited by the 

 Steering Committee of the Symposium, which served as an editorial committee for this volume. 



The Steering Committee thanks all of the authors of this volume among whom there was a great exchange of ideas 

 and generous help. Much additional assistance was provided to the authors and is here acknowledged. Institutional 

 support was provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service through contributions from each of the four Fisheries 

 Centers— Southwest, Southeast, Northwest and Alaska and Northeast. Support was provided by the National Science 

 Foundation through grants DEB76-82279, DEB78-26540; the National Geographic Society by grant 2535-82 from the 

 Committee for Research and Exploration; the Robert E. Maytag Fellowship at the University of Miami; Natural History 

 Museum of Los Angeles County; the Australian Museum Trust, the Australian Marine Science and Technologies Advisory 

 Committee, the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization Science and Industry Endowment Fund, 

 and the employers of the contributors. 



The following individuals supplied specimens, data, technical assistance, publications, and reviewed drafts of manu- 

 scripts: M. Allen. R. M. Allen, A. Alvarino, D. Ambrose, M. E. Anderson, W. D. Anderson. Jr.. F. Balbontin. C. Baldwin, 

 E. K. Balon, P. Berrien, D. Blood, S. Boardman, S. S. Boggs, E. Bohlke, M. Bradbury, J. Brill, D. Brown, J. Bullock, M. 

 S. Busby. J. A. Cambray, P. Camus, M. H. Carrington, B. Chemoff, T. A. Clarke, M. Culbreth, M. Cluxton, S. Coombs, 



A. S. Creighton, K. Davis, W. P. Davis. C. E. Dawson. M. Dehaan, N. Demir, A. Desai, H. H. DeWitt, M. DeWitt, Y. 

 Dotsu, S. D'Vincent, B. R. Engstrand, D. Faber, N. R. Foster, P. Fourmanoir, C. Frandsen, H. J. Franke, E. Fridgeirsson, 

 W. George, R. H. Gibbs, G. Gilmore, D. Gittings, W. Gladstone, T. Goh. M. F. Gomon. B. Goldman, A. R. Gosline, 

 W. A. Gosline, A. E. Gosztonyi, P. H. Greenwood, D. Haggner, G. R. Harbison, G. S. Hardy, K. Hartel. R. Hartwick, 

 T. Hecht, E. Hubert. J. M. Humphries. J. C. Hureau. T. Iwamoto. S. Jewett, P. Keener, S. Kelley, F. Kirschbaum, N. 

 Komada, Y. Konishi, D. L. Kramer, J. K. Langhammer. K. Lazara, K. Lee, S. Lincoln, J. Lobon-Cervia, V. J. Loeb, G. 

 Lundy, N. A. Mackintosh, F. Mago-Leccia, A. M. Martinez, D. McAllister, M. McCabe, J. McCosker. R. F. McGinnis. 

 R. McMichael. R. Meier. N. Merrett. J. Michalski, J. Mighell, R. R. Miller, C. Mills, A. Miskiewicz, G. E. E. Moodie, 

 K. H. Moore, K. Mori, J. Moyer, J. A. Musick, T. Nakata, G. Nelson, J. Nelson, J. Nichols, J. Nielsen, T. North, S. 

 Ochman, G. Patchell, L. R. Parenti, K. Peters. T. Pomeranz, S. Poss, L. C. Prescott, J. Quast, J. Randall, K. S. Raymond, 



B. Remington, C. S. Richards, T. Roberts, D. E. Rosen. R. Schoknecht, A. Sekerak, T. Senta, J. Shapiro. J. Shoemaker, 

 P. L. Shafland, M. Shiogaki, D. L. Schultz, P. H. Skelton, P. E. Smith, J. Song, D. E. Snyder, A. Soeldner, C. Stehr, D. 

 Stein, B. Stender, K. Steward, K. Stoddard, R. E. Strauss, G. Stroud, K. J. Sulak, A. Suzumoto, H. Sweatman, J. N. 

 Taylor, V. R. Thomas, G. Theilacker. R. Thresher, R. Triemer, D. Tweedle, J. C. Tyler, F. Utter, F. Van Dolah, R. 

 Vari, B. Vinter. L. Vlyman, R. Wallus. T. Watanabe. B. A. Watkins, A. Wheeler, P. Whitehead, N. Wilimovsky, A. B. 

 Williams, L. Wood, B. L. Yeager, P. Yuschak. H. Zadoretsky. B. J. Zahuranec. 



Illustrators deserve special praise and thanks. B. B. Washington illustrated a large majority of the specimens. Other 

 illustrators include G. Mattson who served in this capacity with Dr. Ahlstrom for many years. B. Y. Sumida and H. Orr 

 at the Southwest Fisheries Center. B. Vinter at the Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center and J. C. Javech at the 



