FAHAY AND MARKLE: GADIFORMES 



267 



Table 72. Continued. 



Mela nogra mm us 



Merlangius 



Microgadus 



Micromesislius 

 Pollachius 

 Theragra 

 Trisoplerus 



Merlucciidae 



Merluccius 



Macruronus 



Lyconus 



Steindachneriidae 

 Steindachneria 



1/1 



2/1 

 2/2 



2/2 

 2/2 

 2/1 

 3/3 



1/1 



19-21 33-36 52-57 14-18 



23(?) - 53-57 12-17 



17-22 34-38 53-60 9-15 



24-26 30-33 54-60 11-14 



20-23 32 52-56 11-15 



18-20 31-34 48-52 10-14 



- - 44-55 11-16 



12/12 21-29 24-31 

 3/3 20-21' 58-60' 

 2/1 



48-58 

 78-81' 



13 



1,7-12 

 8-11 

 90 + 



8-12 



19-26 



18-25 

 15-21 



10-15 

 16-24 

 12-19 

 16-28 



34-45 

 105-120 



123 + 



19-24 

 19-22 

 16-24 



21-27 

 15-24 

 14-23 

 16-27 



56-67 



21-28 

 28-38 

 (12) 

 18-29 

 33-41 

 23-34 

 15-24 

 25-36 



35-46 



86-105 

 90+ 65 + 



20-25 

 20-25 

 16-28 



22-30 

 16-24 

 15-23 

 17-30 



45-53 



10-11 + 113 



86-105 

 65 + 



6-7 



6 

 6-7 



6 



6 



6-7 



6 



(6) 7 (8) 

 9-10 

 10 



19-21 

 19-20 



(16) 

 18-19 

 18-23 

 17-20 

 18-21 



(13) 

 17-19 



12-18 



14-18 



13 



14-15 



' Four rays in larvae. 

 - Three rays in larvae. 

 ^ n = 2 (A/, novaezelandiae). 



Bregmacerotidae. — Larval and juvenile bregmacerotids appear 

 distinctive in the early acquisition of a cephalic dorsal fin ray. 

 Larvae have been described (Table 7 3 ), but eggs are undescribed. 

 Characters are reviewed in this volume by Houde. 



Melanonidae. —Eggs, larvae and young stages have not been 

 previously described for melanonids (Cohen, 1973). Early stages, 

 however, are moderately abundant in some oceanic collections. 

 In the smallest specimens seen by us (ca. 15 mm SL) the fins 

 are all formed and they have the general body shape of adults 

 (Fig. 1 38B). Notable features of this stage are the small eye, dark 

 peritoneum and distinctive caudal fin. 



Monrfae.— Considering the diversity of the family, very little is 

 known of the early life history stages of morids. Eggs with oil 

 globules have been described for Physiculus dalwigkii (De 

 Gaetani, 1928), Mora mora (D'Ancona, 1933a), Physiculus ca- 

 pensis (Brownell, 1979), Salilota australis (de Ciechomski and 

 Booman, 1981) and Laemonema longipes (Kuroda et al., 1 982). 



Pelagic juveniles of some morids have not yet been related 

 to adult forms and have been placed in three genera, Rhyncho- 

 gadus Tortonese, 1948; Svetovidovia Cohen, 1973 and Eret- 

 mophorus Giglioli, 1889. One of these forms, S. vitellius (Koe- 

 foed, 1953), is shown in Fig. I38C, D. This form appears to be 

 the juvenile stage of Laemonema. In our largest specimen, 55 

 mm SL (MCZ 59773), the pelvic fin has two rays plus two or 

 three remnants. This is a reduction from a count of 9-1 1 in 

 smaller specimens. To date it has not been possible to assign 

 this form to a known adult. A second type of Svetovidovia is 

 shown in Fig. I38E. D'Ancona (1933a) suspected that Eret- 

 mophorus kleinenbergi was the young of Lepidion lepidion but 

 Cohen (1973) apparently was not convinced of the relationship. 

 Finally, Rhynchogadus Tortonese, 1948 (= Hypsirhynchus) is a 

 pelagic form referrable to no known adults and may also rep- 

 resent an early stage of a species whose adult form is known 

 under another name. 



The early stages of morids appear stocky anteriorly, with well 

 developed to voluminous pelvic fins, frequently with more in- 

 ferior than superior procurrent caudal fin rays, and relatively 



voluminous posterior sections of dorsal and anal fins (see Figs. 

 138C-E, 139A-F). Earliest stages may be difficult to separate 

 from some merlucciids and gadines. 



Macrouhdae.— There is a moderate amount of early life history 

 information available on macrourids but considering that the 

 family contains over a third of all extant gadiform species (Nel- 

 son, 1976), a great deal remains unknown. Eggs have been de- 

 scribed by Gilchrist (1904), Sanzo (1933a), de Ciechomski and 

 Booman (1981) and Grigorev and Serebryakov (1981). All de- 

 scribed macrourid eggs range from about I to 4 mm (Marshall 

 and Iwamoto, 1973). Most are less than 2 mm, have a single 

 oil globule and characteristic honey-comb ornamentation on 

 the chorion (see Boehlert, this volume). 



Larvae and pelagic juveniles have been infrequently described 

 and only for macrourines (Table 73). Early ontogenetic stages 

 of trachyrhynchine and macrouroidine macrourids are still not 

 known though Johnsen (1927) illustrated and discussed meta- 

 morphosed Trachyrhyncfius juveniles. 



Only one pelagic juvenile bathygadine is known (Fig. 1408). 

 The specimen, tentatively referred to Gadomus. can be recog- 

 nized by its long second dorsal (relative to anal) fin rays, short 

 interspace between dorsal fins, moderate-sized barbel and fine 

 jaw teeth. Other important characters of this specimen are its 

 laterally placed thoracic pelvic fins and paired preopercular skin 

 flaps. The general appearance of young bathygadines approaches 

 that of morids, with the lack of caudal fin and presence of 

 pedunculate pectoral fins the obvious differences. 



Numerous macrourine larvae have been described. The spec- 

 imen illustrated as Fig. 140C appears identical to Johnsen's 

 (1927) "AH 1" macrourid larva while Fig. MOD is similar in 

 appearance to Merrett's (1978) Coryphaenoides rupestris. In both 

 cases meristic characters agree with Coryphaenoides (sensu lato), 

 but we are unable to provide further identification at this time. 



A number of more elongate types are also known. A specimen 

 belonging to either Cetonurus or Nezumia is shown in Fig. 1 4 1 A. 

 A similar specimen, also with seven branchiostegals, is shown 

 in Fig. 14 IB; its meristic characters, however, do not permit 



