REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCIAENIDAE 
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brown. The spinous dorsal, the ventral, and pectorals remain colorless. The amount 
of black on the base of the soft dorsal and on the anal varies among specimens from 
a small spot on the base of each fin to a long band or blotch involving a considerable 
portion of each fin. The caudal fin is colorless, except for a pair of more or less tri- 
angular-shaped black spots on its base. The specimens described were taken among 
black vegetable debris and, therefore, may be generally darker in color than others 
would be if taken in a different environment. 
In this species, as in americ anus, moderately pronounced headway has been made 
toward acquiring the adult form, especially in the shape of the head, body, and mouth. 
The slender body, the elliptical pupil, the asymmetrically rounded caudal, and the 
absence of black on the spinous dorsal and the ventral fins serve to characterize 
littoralis, as in the 10-millimeter fish previously described. 
Specimens 18 to 20 millimeters long. —The body has become only slightly more 
rounded and elongate since a length of about 15 millimeters was attained, the greatest 
depth being contained in the length to the base of the caudal about 3.75 to 4.2 times. 
The head remains low and wide, its depth being only a little greater than its width. 
The mouth is nearly horizontal and inferior, and the rather conical snout, which is 
scarcely shorter than the eye, projects slightly. The development of the character- 
istic barbel of the adult at the symphysis of the lower jaw is indicated by a minute 
knob. Scalation is nearly complete (although not shown in the illustration), and 
the lateral line is developed anteriorly, extending to middle of base of soft dorsal. 
The caudal fin has become rather more broadly asymmetrically rounded, and the 
longest rays are shorter than the head. Pigmentation is very variable, depending 
upon the environment in which the specimens were taken. Some specimens are 
almost uniformly brown, while others are silvery with scattered brownish chromato- 
phores. The spinous dorsal (except for a few black dots), the pectorals, and the 
ventrals in all specimens at hand remain plain translucent. The caudal fin is void of 
color except for a pair of dark blotches on the base, which may be separate or united. 
The dorsal and anal are largely black at the base in some specimens, whereas they 
bear only comparatively few dark points in others (fig. 16). 
Specimens of littoralis of the size described remain more slender than either of the 
other two local species of the genus. The difference in this respect, however, is slight 
between littoralis and americanus, but comparatively great between littoralis and 
saxatilis. The strongly eliptical pupil and the short asymmetrically rounded caudal 
fin at once separate littoralis from americanus, although not from saxatilis. The 
