| Summary: | Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1983. Biology Bibliography: leaves 113-121. The first complete developmental series of a cephalopod statolith with its various structures is described. A new method involving a tracing for viewing, counting and recording growth increments in invertebrate statoliths and vertebrate otoliths is detailed and used to determine a daily rate of increment formation in statoliths of young illex illecebrosus. The number of increments increases as a function of statolith length, as a function of dorsal mantle length (DML), and also increases over time. Statolith length increases as a function of DML and also increases over time. -- The larval condition is shown to progress past the rhynchoteuthion (7.5-8.5 mm DML) to 50-70 mm DML, based on a change in growth constant and retention of larval characteristics including the shape of the statolith. -- Statolith length is a more accurate and precise indicator of age of the animal than is the number of growth increments.
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