The Post-Larval Stages of Ammodytes Species Captured during the Cruises of s.s. “Oithona” in Plymouth Waters in the Year 1919

Abstract

The post-larval stages of Ammodytes species captured in the young fish trawl and small-meshed nets during the cruises of s.s. Oithona in the year 1919 were separable into two well-defined series, A and B respectively. Details of the hauls of the trawl and nets with dates and localities are to be found on pages 210–212 of Mr. R. S. Clark's account of the cruises in the present volume.Considering the adult forms of Ammodytes known to occur in Plymouth waters, it is observed that Ammodytes lanceolatus, Lesauvage, and Ammodytes tobianus, L. are frequently met with, but no record is to hand at present of the occurrence of Ammodytes cicerellus, Rafin., although the latter has been taken frequently in the Atlantic. In regard to the larvæ and post-larvæ, none comparable to those assigned to A. cicerellus by Louis Fage (1, p. 17) have been described previously as occurring in this district, nor have such forms revealed themselves in the material under present consideration.In endeavouring to identify the post-larvæ of any species, a study of the characters of the adults is often of great help, but in the case of Ammodytes species the only features of the adult which seem to be of value in this respect are the number of vertebræ and the relative length of the head to the total length of the body, and even so these characters, on account of the difficulty of determining them, are not so helpful as they would appear to be. Other characters have therefore to be sought for, and the following are those by which Series A and B have been distinguished:—