only to family and, in the case of blennioids, 

 only to suborder. Identification of some of the 

 larvae is tentative due to lack of adequate 

 published description or identified material. 

 Specimens not positively identified are shown 

 with a question mark after the listing. 



RESULTS 



Appendix Table 3 shows the catches of larvae 

 made at each station of the survey. Appendix 

 Tables 1 and 2 show the pertinent station data, 

 and text Table 1 shows the numbers of larvae, 

 percentage by area and by family, and the rank 

 for family groups represented in the catch. 

 Larvae belonging to 24 families plus the sub- 

 order Blennioidea were identified in the catches. 

 Only 13 families and the Blennioidea were 

 present in catches from Puget Sound. Catches 

 from the oceanic area included representatives 

 of 24 families and the Blennioidea. About 48% of 

 all larvae were caught at 14 stations in Puget 

 Sound and adjacent waters. The remaining 52% 

 were caught at 88 oceanic stations. Fish larvae 

 were caught at all but one station (George B. 

 Kelez Station 13), although at three other 

 oceanic stations only a single larva was caught. 

 Standard length (SL) of the fish larvae was 

 generally less than 10 mm, with a total range 

 of2.7to40mm. 



Hake eggs and larvae were absent from the 

 oceanic areas, were scarce or absent from the 

 area just north of Puget Sound (Admiralty Inlet 

 and southern Strait of Georgia), but were 

 abundant in Puget Sound, especially in Port 

 Susan. Except for hake, fish eggs were not 

 separated by species and were not considered in 

 the remainder of this report. 



The oceanic area was rather arbitrarily 

 divided into inshore and offshore subdivisions, 

 with the 914 m (500 fm) isobath as the dividing 

 line. The inshore subdivision as used here is 

 essentially the continental shelf and upper part 

 of the continental slope. The offshore subdivi- 

 sions were over the abyssal portion of the North 

 Pacific Basin where depths were between the 

 1,829 and 3,658 m (1.000 and 2,000 fm) isobaths. 

 These subdivisions were also characterized by 

 the abundance of certain groups of larvae in the 

 upper 250 m. In the offshore area, catches 

 were composed mainly of Myctophidae (72%), 

 Scorpaenidae (16%), Bathylagidae (6%), and 



Chauliodontidae (1%), with 14 families making 

 up the remaining 5% of the catch. At stations of 

 the inshore subdivision, plus four stations in 

 offshore waters at which depths were less than 

 914 m {George B. Kelez stations 18, 23, 26, and 

 32^), the catch was predominantly Scorpaenidae 

 (55%), Pleuronectidae (22%), Ammodytidae 

 (5%), Myctophidae (5%), Osmeridae (2%), and 

 Gadidae (2%), with 10 families making up the 

 remaining 9% of the larvae. It is worthwhile to 

 note that in waters over the continental shelf, 

 four families (Scorpaenidae, Pleuronectidae, 

 Gadidae, and Osmeridae) of potential com- 

 mercial value contributed 81% of the larvae. In 

 the offshore subdivision only one family (Scor- 

 paenidae) of commercial importance contributed 

 more than 1% , which made up 16% of the larvae; 

 four other families (Pleuronectidae, Clupeidae, 

 Bothidae, and Anoplopomatidae) also of com- 

 mercial importance contributed an aggregate of 

 0.6% of the catch. The remaining larvae from 

 the inshore and offshore subdivisions could be 

 classed as forage fish. At other times of the 

 year the proportion and distribution of com- 

 mercially important fish could be expected to 

 be somewhat different. 



RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF FISH 

 LARVAE BY FAMILY 



Five families of fish contributed 88% of the 

 total larvae, and it is worthwhile to point out 

 some features of their distribution. 



Scorpaenidae 



Scorpaenids were the most abundant fish 

 encountered during the survey, constituting 

 29% of the total larvae collected. Of these, 30% 

 were collected in Puget Sound (15 stations), 

 and the remaining 70% in the oceanic area 

 (87 stations). Over 99% of the larvae in this 

 group were Scbastes; the remaining fraction of 

 a percent were Sebastolobus. No attempt was 

 made to separate the Sebastes except for S. 

 paiicisphtis, into specific groups, though it was 

 clear that several species were present in the 



" Station 18 - Union Seamount, Station 23 - E.xplorer 

 Seamount, Station 26 - Warwick Seamount, and Station 

 32 - Cobb Seamount. 



