Discrepancies in ichthyoplankton data in these two files 

 were corrected by inspecting original records from the sorting 

 laboratory, the original ichthyoplankton identification sheets, 

 and the samples themselves. Station and tow data discrepancies 

 between the two files were corrected by reviewing ships' logs and 

 deck tow sheets, original records from the sorting laboratory, 

 cruise announcements, publications, header information on the 

 ichthyoplankton identification sheets, and station plots 

 generated for each cruise. Eventually all station and tow data 

 were checked by comparing these sources. 



The corrected ichthyoplankton data base was then examined 

 statistically and outliers were found and checked as above. 

 Distributional plots were then prepared for each taxon and these 

 were checked by reviewing the data sources mentioned above and by 

 examining archived specimens. A listing of each taxon by station 

 (Table 4) was produced, which became the primary document for 

 subseguent checks. Misidentif ications found in geographic 

 outlier checks and other misidentif ications and data problems 

 discovered in the course of examining archived samples resulted 

 in several iterations of Table 4. Finally, totals in Table 4 

 were checked against annual summaries of incidence and abundance 

 (Tables 2 and 3) . Ecological analyses of the data were conducted 

 concurrently with editing procedures and provided cross-checks 

 that allowed correction of errors. 



SPECIES SUMMARY 



Larvae of northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) represented 

 39.5% of all fish larvae taken on CalCOFI cruises during 1968 and 

 numbered almost twice as many as Pacific hake (Merluccius 

 productus) , the next most abundant species with 21.2% of the 

 total larvae (Tables 2,3). Northern anchovy ranked 2nd in 

 incidence; M. productus ranked 8th. Larvae of Sebastes spp., a 

 composite of about 70 species, ranked 3rd in number (13.9%) and 

 first in occurrence. The lanternfish Stenobrachius leucopsarus 

 ranked 4th in abundance (4.2%) and occurrence. A midwater 

 gonostomatid, Vinciguerria lucetia , and the family Sciaenidae 

 ranked 5th and 6th in abundance but only 13th and 29th in 

 occurrence. The myctophid Triphoturus mexicanus also ranked in 

 the top 10 in numbers (7th) and occurrence (9th) . Jack mackerel 

 larvae (Trachurus symmetricus) ranked 8th in numbers and 11th in 

 occurrence. Two deepsea smelts (Leuroglossus stilbius and 

 Bathylagus ochotensis) completed the top 10 taxa, ranking 9th and 

 10th in numbers and 5th and 6th in occurrence. The 10 taxa 

 contributed 90.4% of all larvae taken during 1968; the remaining 

 9.6% was represented by 101 taxa plus the unidentified and 

 disintegrated categories. Of the 10 taxa, 5 were midwater 

 species, 2 were coastal pelagic species, and 3 were coastal 

 demersal species or generic groupings. 



