REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCIAENIDAE 
95 
nebulosus, whereas the greatest depth is contained about 4.0 to 4.5 times in the length 
in C. regalis. Another difference apparently exists in color, as the dark spots on the 
ventral outline of the tail are more prominent and in a much closer set series in C. 
nebulosus than in C. regalis. 
Specimens 2.5 millimeters long. — The head and trunk are rather deep, and the 
caudal portion of body, although proportionately deeper than in specimens 1.8 
millimeters long, remains moderately slender. The vent now is situated almost 
exactly at midbody length, and the greatest depth (measured somewhat behind the 
head) is contained about 2.6 times in the length to the tip of the notochord. The 
depth immediately behind the vent now is notably greater than the diameter of the 
eye. The mouth is large and strongly oblique, the gape anteriorly is only slightly 
below the level of the middle of eye, and the maxillary reaches nearly to the vertical 
from the posterior margin of the pupil. The myomeres are indistinct posteriorly, 
about 27 may be counted. The finfold remains continuous. However, a thickening 
of the tissues has taken place below the distal part of the notochord, and also farther 
forward, constituting respectively the primitive bases of the caudal and anal fins. 
The pectoral fin membranes are prominent, but the ventrals are not yet evident. 
Figure 35—Ciinoscion nebulosus. From a specimen 2.5 millimeters long. 
A black lateral stripe, consisting of nearly connected dashes, begins about at the 
vertical from the vent and extends nearly half the distance to the tip of the tail. The 
closely approximated dots, forming an almost continuous dark stripe along the ventral 
outline of the tail, although somewhat less distinct than in smaller specimens, remain 
present. Dark dots also remain evident on the ventral outline of the chest and 
abdomen (fig. 35). 
The body proportions, according to the specimens at hand, are almost identical 
in C. nebulosus and C. regalis at this size. The chief diagnostic character is the dark 
lateral stripe, present in C. nebulosus, but wanting in C. regalis. The first-mentioned 
species, also, has more numerous and more closely approximated black spots of 
nearly uniform size, on the ventral outline of the tail. In C. regalis the spot at about 
midcaudal length already is somewhat larger than the others, a distinction that 
becomes more pronounced in somewhat larger specimens. 
Specimens 8.0 to 3.6 millimeters long. — The body is quite elongate and compressed, 
the break in the ventral outline at the vent, abrupt in smaller specimens, no longer 
remains pronounced. The head and trunk now exceed the rest of the body in length, 
the preanal distance being contained in the length to the tip of the notochord 1.75 
to 1.8 times, and the postanal distance 2.2 to 2.3 times, and the greatest depth is 
contained 3.4 to 3.6 times in the length. The large mouth remains strongly oblique, 
