86 
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
more slender than the rest of the body, it has become proportionately deeper and 
rather shorter, its length being contained in the length of the body about 2.3 times. 
The mouth remains strongly oblique and the maxillary reaches about under the 
middle of the orbit. The eye is small, scarcely longer than the snout. The cranium 
is very transparent, permitting the lobes of the brain to be seen clearly. The fin 
membranes remain about as in the younger fish already described. A slight thick- 
ening of the membranes is discernible, however, in the places that will be occupied by 
the bases of the dorsal and anal fins. The color markings have not changed per- 
ceptibly, the most prominent ones being the dark spot on about midlength of the 
ventral outline of the tail, and the black inner surface of the base of the pectorals 
(fig. 28). 
The dark color markings described, together with the very deep compressed 
body, serve as the principal diagnostic characters in the smaller larvae of this species. 
Specimen ^.5 millimeters long . — The body is very deep and moderately compressed 
anteriorly, tapering rapidly behind the head. The break in the ventral outline behind 
the vent, very abrupt in the smaller specimens, is no longer pronounced. The caudal 
portion is notably shorter than the rest of the body, its length being contained about 
2.6 times in the total length without the caudal fin, and the greatest depth is con- 
tained about 2.15 times in the length. The mouth remains strongly oblique, and 
the maxillary reaches under the middle of the orbit. The eye is comparatively 
small, being only a little longer than the snout, and is situated somewhat nearer to 
the dorsal than the ventral outline. The fins are fairly well developed, all of them, 
exclusive of the ventrals, having fairly well-developed rays. About 36 rays may be 
counted in the dorsal, and 7 in the anal. A structural differentation is not evident 
