3 50 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Figure 88. Brevoortia tyrannus. a, newly laid egg in advanced stage of cleavage; b, egg with advanced stage 

 of embryo; c, newly hatched larva, 4.5 mm long. After Kuntz and RadclifFe. 



number of smaller dark spots, sometimes only a few small ones and sometimes many, 

 differing greatly in number, size, and intensity of darkness, these spots sometimes 

 arranged in two, three, or more indefinite horizontal series on anterior part of side, 

 seldom extending far beyond vertical from origin of anal; a profusely spotted example 

 illustrated in Fig. 86. Fins pale yellow to brassy, sometimes with dusky punctulations; 

 caudal generally dusky at base and often with a dusky margin. Peritoneum black. 



Variation in color, especially in the dark spots on the side, is very great. 



Size. The usual size of adult fish at Beaufort, North Carolina, is about 300- 

 350 mm (12-14 in.) TL. It is generally accepted that the fish grow rather larger in the 

 northern part of the range than in the southern part. The largest specimen in the U. S. 

 National Museum, from Long Branch, New Jersey, is 430 mm (17 in.) long, but a 

 larger one, 480 mm (18 in.), has been reported as taken at Woods Hole, Massa- 

 chusetts {120: 91), and one of 500 mm (20 in.) was reported to the writer by Dr. 

 H. F. Prytherch verbally. The last mentioned specimen was taken at Beaufort, North 

 Carolina, and weighed 3.5 pounds. 



