ON THE POST-LARVAL STAGES OF

• Main Authors: Hermann Einarsson, Museum Rerum, Naturalium Islandiae, Ammodytes Lancea Cuvler
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1026.3652

In a previous paper in this series (Ei·narsson 1951) an account was given of the post-larval stages of sandeels (Ammodytidae) in Faroe, Iceland and W-Greenland waters. Two types of post-larvae of sandeels were found to occur in Icelandic waters, one being referable to Ammodytes lanceolatus Lesauvage and the other to Ammodytes marinus Raitt. These types were described and drawn (I. c., pp. 10-11 and Plate I and II) and the indentifications verified by countings of vertebrae which were compared with vertebral numbers of adult individuals. Previously a third species, Ammodytes lancea euvier, closely related to A. marinus, had been found in Icelandic waters (B l ' u u n 1941). The most characteristic feature distinguishing the older post-larval stages of the "lancea-group " (A. marinus and A. lancea) from those of A. lanceolatus was found to be the arrangement of the dorsal chromatophores. In A. lanceolatus these extend from the base of the caudal fin to the head or almost to the head when the post-larva is about 10 mm in length, whereas in the post-larval stages of the "lancea-group " they are confined to the dorsal area behind the anus until