396 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
stages is rendered easy by the very long marginal fins, and the persistent isocercal 
tail which no other local species exhibits. 
30. 5 -millimeter stage . — Total length, 30.5; length to vent, 15.5; greatest depth, 
5.0; diameter of eye, 1.8 millimeters. Dorsal 11 to 13, 66-67; anal 60-67; ventrals 7. 
Myomeres, 21 to vent plus 38 behind. 
Pigmentation. — Top and sides of head down to posterior margin of eye are 
thickly pigmented, most heavily in a band through eye from tip of snout to opercle. 
Only an occasional chromatophore is evident below eye, and a few outline the lower 
jaw. Dorsal and lateral aspects are patterned with irregular groups of chromato- 
phores, giving a checkered or marbled effect. Ventral side is unmarked except for a 
double series of about 20 chromatophores along base of anal fin. A few chromato- 
phores occur on all fins except anal. 
A young burbot, 178 millimeters in total length, representing probably a 1-year- 
old fish, was seined at the mouth of Silver Creek on September 4, 1928, by J. R. 
Greeley, who states in a letter to the author, “I have known of Lota about this size 
being taken in creeks, and call to mind one collection of several specimens that came 
from Canandaigua Lake inlet, collected by Doctor Eaton of Hobart College.” 
BREEDING 
Little is known of the breeding habits of the ling, but adults are reported full of 
spawn from November until March. Our records of early larvae would indicate that 
hatching occurs in early summer, up until the last week of June. 
62. Species A. 
RECORD OF CAPTURE 
Eighteen larvae ranging from 5.3 to 6.8 millimeters long were taken on July 1 
and 2, 1929, along the far western shore of Lake Erie in comparatively shallow water. 
DESCRIPTION 
The present specimens differ considerably from all others taken by the survey. 
They are characterized by a short intestine as in the cottids and centrarchids, but the 
compressed head eliminates the former possibility, and the slender elongate body is 
unlike that of the larval Micropterus, the only member of the sunfish family whose 
young are known. In the absence of further stages, no attempt at identification is 
made. 
5 .1 -millimeter stage . — Total length, 5.1; standard length, 5.0; length to vent, 2.1; 
length of head, 0.9; diameter of eye, 0.37; greatest depth before vent, 0.66; depth 
