POSTLARVAL STAGES OF AUSTRALIAN FISHES. 
147 
fin have appeared on the membrane of that fin. The elongate, bifurcid first 
soft ray of the ventral paired fins is a noticeable character of postlarvae of 
this size and larger. 
Postlarvae, when leaving the plankton, have body proportions somewhat 
similar to adults, namely with head length 4 in the total length and the greatest 
body height § that of the head length. The head length to body height 
proportion varies little with increase in age, but the head length increases to 
about 3-J in the total length by the time maturity is reached. 
At Caloundra and Noosa River this species is to be found during all 
months of the year ; individuals smaller than 90 millimetres abounding in small 
schools in the shallows, mainly over sand. All characteristically possess dark 
markings on the dorsal half of the body. In fry of 15-0 to 20-0 millimetres 
there are two rows of about eight rounded clusters of brownish black chromato- 
phores forming blotches, one series along the dorsal margin and the other along 
the mid-line of each side. At 30-0 millimetres these have fused and form 
irregular bands on the upper half of the body, each pointing obliquely downwards 
and forwards. According to Ogilby (1893) these markings are characteristic 
of the young of both S. ciliata and S. maculata, but persist in the adult stages 
of the latter species only. The black spot at the base of the pectoral fin is not 
developed until late in the first year of life. 
6. ICHTHYSCOPUS LEBECK (Bl. & Schn.). QUEENSLAND STARGAZER. 
Uranoscopus le Heck Bloch and Schneider (1801), p. 47. 
Uranoscopus inermis Cuvier and Valenciennes (1829), p. 310, pi. lxvi. 
Adults of this extraordinary species have always been objects of special 
interest because of their unusual shape and habit. The present note concerns 
a single postlarval specimen of 154 millimetres length. This was captured in 
the fine meshed seine net in the sandy shallows near the mouth of the Noosa 
River on the 13th of October, 1944. This postlarva is sufficiently advanced 
in development to be readily identified as the common Stargazer of the 
Queensland coast, known to authors as Ichthyscopus lebeck (Bl. & Schn.). 
Although Whitley (1936) has proposed the specific name sannio for this 
Australian form, the present writer has found insufficient justification for this 
separation after comparing the adult specimens in the Queensland Museum 
collection with the descriptions of Indian material by Cuvier and Valenciennes 
(1829) and Day (1876). 
This postlarva, illustrated in text fig. 6, differs somewhat from adults 
of the species both in proportions and coloration. The fin formula is D. ?, 18; 
A. 17 ; P. 17 ; V. I, 5, which agrees closely with those of adult specimens in 
the Queensland Museum collection. The eye diameter is relatively large as 
compared with the head length and the eyes are placed dorso-ventrally instead 
of dor sally as in adults. The migration of the eyes, from a lateral position 
in larvae to the dorsal aspect of the head of adults, by disproportionate growth 
of the skull bones has been observed also in related forms, namely the American 
Astroscopus guttatus by Pearson (1941) and the Mediterranean Uranoscopus 
scaber by Salfi (1933). The mouth with its characteristic labial fringes has 
already become vertical. The exposed bony cheek plates are discernible as their 
