Table 4. — Frequency distribution of pigment patterns, snout and pterotic spine positions for istiophorid larvae. 





















Pigment on 





























Branchiostegal lowei 



jaw 





Pterotic spine 















Size range 





Gular 



Pigment 





pigment 

 Pres- Ab- 



ramus 





direction 





Snout to 



eye 



Group or 





2-3 



1 























species 



No. 



(mm SL) 



Row 



cells 



cell 



cell 



ent 



sent 



>Vi 



<>/2 



up 



intermediate 



level 



below 



level 



above 



1 



9 



3.3-20.2 



9 



















9 



9 











3 



6 



7 







2 



2 



2 



5.9-11.5 



2 















2 







2 











2 







2 











3 



6 



4.7-10.0 







6 















6 



2 



4 







3 



3 



5 



1 







4 



4 



4.5- 7.6 







4 











4 







2 



2 



1 



2 



1 



4 











5 



21 



3.7-10.9 











21 











21 



9 



12 



5 



8 



8 



16 



5 







6 



14 



4.4-14.5 











14 







14 







6 



8 



3 



2 



9 



12 



1 



1 



7 



9 



2.8- 9.3 















9 







9 



2 



7 



2 



2 



5 



7 



2 







8 



8 



5.3-11.3 















8 



8 







3 



5 



3 



2 



3 



5 



2 



1 



Blue 



13 



3.7-20.8 











2 



11 







13 







13 



4 



4 



s 



11 



2 







marlin 



































when young may be expected. Now that we have 

 the ability to rear pelagic fishes from the egg, a 

 concentrated effort directed at billfish would be a 

 great step towards solving the problem. It is also 

 necessary to study internal features of the young, 

 particularly the osteology of the axial skeleton 

 which has proved useful for identifying young 

 tunas. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



I want to express my deepest gratitude to my 

 colleague and friend Shoji Ueyanagi, Far Seas 

 Fisheries Research Laboratory, Shimizu, Japan, for 

 his interest in my studies of these fishes. Ueyanagi 

 suggested many of the various avenues of research 

 which I followed in this study and I greatly ap- 

 preciate all of his help and encouragement. 



LITERATURE CITED 



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ARNOLD, E.L., JR. 



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70 



