Guide to the Early Stages of Marine Fishes occurring in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Hatteras to the Southern Scotian Shelf

Michael P. Fahay

National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Center
Sandy Hook Laboratory, Highlands, New Jersey, USA 07732

Source - Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, Volume 4: 3-423
ISSN-0250-7408

 

Fahay, M.P. 1983. Guide to the Early Stages of Marine Fishes occurring in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Hatteras to the Southern Scotian Shelf. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 4: 3-423 https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v4.a1

 

This guide presents egg and larval descriptions of 290 species of fishes (contained within 92 families, 28 suborders and 13 orders) likely to be collected in plankton and neuston sampling operations in continental shelf and oceanic waters of the western North Atlantic. Coverage is designed to emphasize species occurring between Cape Hatteras (latitude 35°N) and the southern Scotian Shelf (about 43°N) and includes oceanic mesopelagic andbathypelagic forms. Coverage is also designed to provide (a) as wide a phylogenetic survey of larval characters as today's published record allows, and (b) direct comparisons of confusing species pairs. The latter two considerations result in the inclusion of a few estuarine species or species occurring south of Cape Hatteras.

Throughout the taxonomic section of the guide, illustrations are placed on the right-hand page and the corresponding descriptions are placed on the left. Consistency in the descriptions is largely dependent on descriptive information available in the published literature. Certain meristic and morphometric characteristics of adults are included to aid in the identification of larger larvae and juveniles. Special introductory pages, which summarize and compare characters for a number of species, are provided for the families Gonostomalidae (including Sternoptychidae), Myctophidae, Paralepididae, Carangidae, Sciaenidae, Scombridae and the (sub)orders Anguilliformes, Gadiformes, Ceratioidei, Stromateoidei and Pleuronectiformes.

Many published illustrations have been redrawn, primarily to correct inconsistencies and errors in the original descriptions, but also to provide uniformity throughout the guide. Introductory material includes explanation pages, a glossary of terms widely used in ichthyoplankton work, a table of larval characters for the 13 orders, and a table of meristic characters (including presence or absence of adipose fin), arranged according to range of myomeres or vertebrae, to assist in the identification of problem larvae.

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Language - English Publisher - Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Dartmouth, N.S., Canada
Publication Date - July 1983
Publication Type - Journal Article
Descriptors - Cape Hatteras, egg, ichthyoplankton, larvae, Scotian Shelf

 

 

Guide to the Early Stages of Marine Fishes occurring in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Hatteras to the Southern Scotian Shelf
Front Pages	967 kb
Introductory pages	2152 kb
Clupeiformes	692 kb
Elopiformes	227 kb
Anguilliformes	537 kb
Salmoniformes	1281 kb
Myctophiformes	2991 kb
Gadiformes	918 kb
Lophiiformes	759 kb
Atheriniformes	210 kb
Beryciformes	117 kb
Scorpaeniformes	664 kb
Perciformes	5544 kb
Pleuronectiformes	1840 kb
Tetraodontiformes	167 kb
Miscellaneous	265 kb
Selected Meristic Characters	306 kb
References	1132 kb
Index	321 kb
Back Pages	269 kb

 

Citation: Fahay, M.P. 1983. Guide to the Early Stages of Marine Fishes occurring in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Hatteras to the Southern Scotian Shelf. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 4: 3-423
https://doi.org/10.2960/J.v4.a1