Early Developmental Stages of the California Scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata

Abstract

THE California scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata Girard, spawns throughout the summer months in aquaria at Scripps Institution. Captive specimens have supplied material for studies on the eggs and early larval stages of this marine species by Barnhart (1932) and David (1939), as well as for the present paper. In the work reported here, the embryonic and prolarval stages are re-described in greater detail in an effort to simplify future comparison with the early pelagic stages of other scorpaenid fishes of the Pacific coast. The eggs and newly hatched larvae from Cortez Banks that Eigenmann (1892) tentatively identified as Fierasfer dubius are here referred to Scorpaena sp. In addition, the literature on early stages of several extra-limital forms of Scorpaena and of certain other fishes is discussed briefly, and the need for more extensive study of developmental characters of scorpaenid fishes is pointed out. The description of S. guttata is based on living specimens except where otherwise stated. This paper is No. 777 in Contributions from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, New Series.