Table 5. Mean number and range of midline melanophores on tail 



portion of body of 33 species of Sebastes . All larvae were 



collected from identified pregnant females. 



pear in larvae 5.0 to 6.5 mm long. The warm-water 

 genera, Ectreposebastes, Pontinus, Scorpaena, and Scor- 

 paenodes, develop a row of about a dozen melanophores 

 on the ventral midline of the tail in very small larvae but 

 these are lost before the completion of notochord flexion. 

 The dorsal midline row that forms on some species of 

 Sebastes never appears on the larvae of these genera. 



Late-stage larvae of Sebastes can be differentiated 

 from those of other eastern Pacific genera on the basis of 

 meristic characters. Eastern Pacific species, with a single 

 exception, normally have 26 vertebrae and 13 spinous 

 dorsal rays. The exception, S. polyspinis, has 28 

 vertebrae and 14 spines. Sebastolobus has higher counts 

 (29 to 31 vertebrae and 15 to 17 dorsal spines) and the 

 warm-water genera have lower counts (24 vertebrae and 



12 dorsal spines). The only departure from this 

 generalization is Scorpaenodes which, like Sebastes, has 



13 dorsal spines. 



Of the 69 known eastern Pacific species, complete 



developmental series, from newborn larvae to juvenile, 

 are described only for S. paucispinis (Moser 1967a) and 

 S. macdonaldi (Moser 1972), however, intraovarian and 

 newborn larvae have been described and/or illustrated 

 for a total of 39 eastern Pacific species. This paper con- 

 tains illustrated descriptions of S. paucispinis, S. mac- 

 donaldi, S. jordani, S. levis, and two larval forms from 

 the Gulf of California. Also presented are illustrations of 

 pre- or postextrusion larvae of 23 other eastern Pacific 

 species (Figs. 1-4). For comparative purposes, brief illus- 

 trated descriptions of Sebastes larvae from other regions 

 are also given. These include eight Japanese species, a 

 larval form from off Chile (probably S. capensis), and 

 three species from the North Atlantic. Research on the 

 larvae of the latter group is problematic because of the 

 taxonomic confusion that surrounds the adults. Adults 

 of the widely distributed redfish, S. marinus, are readily 

 distinguished from those of S. viuiparus, the diminutive 

 shallow-water form of the northern European coast. The 

 problem has been whether the deep-water "mentella" 

 form, which cooccurs geographically with S. marinus, is 

 specifically distinct from S. marinus and whether the 

 "American" form is a distinct species. The work of Bar- 

 sukov (1968, 1972) and Barsukov and Zakharov (1972) 

 indicates that S. marinus, S. mentella, and the "Ameri- 

 can" form, S. fasciatus, are distinct species, making a 

 total of at least four species in the North Atlantic. Esch- 

 meyer's systematic review of North Atlantic redfishes (in 

 progress, cited in Hallacher 1974) confirms this. 



Sebastes pauciapinia (Ayres), Figure 5 



Literature. — Newly hatched larvae of the bocaccio, 

 S. paucispinis, were illustrated by Morris ( 1956) and lar- 

 val stages up to 12 mm were illustrated in Ahlstrom 

 (1965). A complete description of the development of em- 

 bryos, larvae, and juveniles was given by Moser (1967a). 



Distinguishing features. — Bocaccio larvae hatch and 

 are extruded at a length of 4.0 to 5.0 mm. Beginning at 

 about 15 mm they undergo certain changes (e.g., diminu- 

 tion of parietal and preopercular spines and develop- 

 ment of dorsal pigment saddles) that mark the begin- 

 ning of the pelagic juvenile stage. Transformation into 

 demersal juveniles occurs at 30 to 35 mm in length. 



The larvae are comparatively slender. Body depth at 

 the base of the pectoral fin averaged 20^^ of the body 

 length before notochord flexion, 23% during flexion, and 

 30% in larvae which have completed notochord flexion 

 (Table 6). They develop the complement of head spines 

 typical for all species of Sebastes (Moser 1967a). 



The most distinct morphological features of bocaccio 

 larvae are the elongate paired fins. The pectorals begin to 

 elongate and become aliform soon after hatching. They 

 reach a maximum relative length of about 37% of the body 

 length in larvae about 13 mm long. They gradually 

 diminish in relative length during the remainder of the 

 larval and pelagic juvenile stages and are 25% of the body 

 length in late pelagic juveniles. Ossification of the rays 

 begins in 6-mm larvae and the unusually small adult 



