WHITE ET AL.: ATHERINIFORMES 



359 



Fig. 188. (A) Atheriniform larvae. Odomesthes debueni; 10.2 mm SL, from Fischer, (1963); (B) ho hawaiwnsis: 6.2 mm SL, from Miller et 

 al., (1979); (C) Athermomorus insularum; 5.4 mm SL, from Miller et al., (1979); and (D) Bedotia geayi; 5.3 mm SL, LACM uncatalogued. 



be used as a synapomorphous character state to define the Ath- 

 eriniformes. 



The second ontogenetic character stale suggesting that the 

 atheriniform fishes comprise a monophyletic group relates to 

 larval pigmentation and may contribute to their cladistic di- 

 agnosis. In all atheriniform larvae a single row of melanophores 

 develops on the dorsal margin (Fig. 189A). This situation con- 

 trasts with the Beloniformes and Cyprinodontiformes, where no 

 consistent larval pigmentation pattern is evident (Hardy, 1978a). 

 What is known of larval halfbeaks suggests that when a dorsal 

 pigment series occurs it is always composed of at least a double 

 row of melanophores (Fig. I89B). 



While it is typical for cyprinodontiform larvae to develop 

 dorsal, lateral and ventral pigment series (Foster, 1967), no 

 consistent pattern is evident. In Fundulus. the middorsal me- 



lanophores are arranged in a paired series (Hardy, 1978a). In 

 Cyprinodon vanegatus obscure blotches of pigment occur on the 

 body (Hardy, 1978a). Melanophores are evenly distributed over 

 the larva of Liuania parva (Hardy, 1978a). The larva of Epi- 

 platys sexfasciatus has melanophores randomly distributed over 

 its dorsal surface (Scheel, 1968). In the Atherinomorpha, only 

 the adrianichthyoid fishes have larvae with dorsal melanophores 

 arranged in a single row (Kulkami, 1940; Job, 1940). This re- 

 semblance to the Athcriniformes is considered to be convergent 

 because, given the mtemal relationships of the Atherinomorpha 

 (Rosen and Parenti, 1981), it is more parsimonious to assume 

 that a single dorsal melanophore row evolved independently in 

 the Athcriniformes and Adrianichthyoidei because only two 

 evolutionary events are involved. However, if this pigment pat- 

 tern is viewed as a sympleisiomorphy, it is necessary to invoke 



