520 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
horizontal, with the maxillary reaching only to the eye. D. XI or XII, 10 to 12; 
A. Ill, 10 to 12; scales 62 to 68; vertebrae 9 + 15. 
SPAWNING 
Many adult fish were examined in the vicinity of Beaufort, from 1914 to 1917 and 
from 1925 to 1931, as to the state of development of the gonads. However, no ripe 
fish, nor even fish with developing roe, was found, notwithstanding that Smith 
(1907, p. 300) reported that a ripening female was seen at Beaufort on August 6 (1903), 
and a ripe male on November 20 (1903). The virtual absence of ripe, or ripening, 
fish in the local inshore waters suggests strongly that the fish go elsewhere to spawn. 
The collection of small young near the inlet and at offshore stations, onty, as shown 
subsequently, seems to indicate that spawning takes place at sea, probably a consider- 
able distance offshore. The presence of rather early young in the local waters over a 
long period of time, as shown in the following paragraph, indicates a long spawning 
season. 
Young, 10 mm and less in length, first appeared in the tow toward the end of 
October, and continued to be taken each succeeding month until toward the end of 
April. However, they were most numerous in December and January. The presence 
of such small fish over this long period of time seems to show that spawning begins in 
October and that it continues until the following March. 
All the smaller young, consisting of 242 fish of 10 mm and less in length, either 
were taken at offshore stations or in or near Beaufort Inlet, some of the stations being 
as much as 12 or 13 miles offshore, beyond which no collecting was done. However, as 
the eggs and early larvae, or fry under 5.0 mm in length, were not found, it seems prob- 
able that spawning takes place beyond the most distant stations made. Therefore, 
the young taken at sea presumably were migrating from the spawning grounds to the 
inshore waters where the larger young, of 12 to 15 mm and upward in length, and the 
adults are numerous. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE YOUNG 
The early larvae were not taken, and therefore remain unknown, as already stated. 
Specimens about 5.0 to 5.5 mm long . — Two specimens with damaged caudal fins 
are at hand. The body is decidedly elongate and compressed, the depth being con- 
tained 3.6 to 3.9 times in the length without the caudal fin. The dorsal outline is 
concave just in advance of the eyes and also at the nape, or just posterior to the brain, 
which is visible through the thin walls of the skull. The head is rather low, compressed 
2.9 to 3.0 in length. The snout is moderately pointed, as long as the eye, 3.0 to 3.5 
in head; the maxillary reaches nearly opposite the anterior margin of the pupil; and 
the gape anteriorly is very slightly below the level of the middle of the eye. Teeth 
are not evident. About 22 myomeres may be counted. The vent is situated slightly 
nearer the base of caudal than tip of snout. The primitive dorsal fin membrane in 
the 5.0-mm fish has suggestions of rays in the region of the anterior part of the soft 
dorsal of the older fish. These rays are considerably further developed in the 5.5-mm 
specimen. Rays are rather more definitely developed in the anal fin than in the dorsal. 
The notochord is bent upward posteriorly, and well-developed caudal fin rays appear 
below it, which are broken distally. Therefore, the exact shape of the fin cannot be 
determined. However, as somewhat larger specimens have a rounded caudal, it may 
be assumed that the fin also was more or less rounded in the small specimens. Pectoral 
fins are quite well developed and rather long, but the ventrals are minute. 
