An Atlas of the Early Stage Stage Fishes in Japan

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Ocmmic and Atmospheric Administration Translation No. 130 NKTIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE Southwest Fisheries Center Honolulu Laboratory P570 Dele St. Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-2396 From An atlas of the early stage fishes in Japan. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, Japan, 1154 p. 1988. AN ATLAS OF THE EARLY STAGE FISHES IN JAPAN Muneo Okiyama , Edito :2: [Page iii] INTRODUCTION S 1i7 Tz I. - I : I I : I Y t-! n i v e ir $5 :L .t y I I i a :I. . .i: r. 1-1 L .:2 , i i $;an D i e g t : ~ .- I..il:2rar:i.e::; R e c e :i. v e c , n :: (3 8 A : I 8 ..-'3 :I. i:::, Over 3,000 species of fish are known to occur in our country. This amounts to about 15% of the extant species, which are said to number about 20,000. This surprisingly rich ichthyofauna found in a limited area reflects the characteristically great north-south extent of the Japanese archipelago in that it is extremely diverse in composition. Most of these species begin their lives in the waters adjacent to the archipelago, grow up there, and fulfill their characteristic life histories there. On the other hand, many of those which migrate from the south on the Kuroshio occur here only at a certain stage of their development, such as the larval or postlarval stage. In this way, the ichthyofauna which appear so abundant to our eyes can be seen in actuality to be greatly expanded both qualita- tively and quantitatively through the development of the individual fish. Many fishes, particularly marine fishes, pass their early period of development in a planktonic existence which has no relation to their pattern of life as adults. This stage, called by the general term ichthyoplankton, presents points of especially strong interest that cannot be overlooked, because of the characteristic morphological and ecological adaptations that it shows, and because it coincides with a time of great significance in terms of individual and group movements related to dispersal and survival. The study of the classification of the early stages of fishes has as its primary purpose the discovery of the early developmental history of each species, organization of their taxonomic characters, and establishment of methods of distinguishing them from similar species. This study has a history of about one century, but with the exception of certain areas and [Translator's note: Body length equals notochord or standard length; same below indicates that the same measurement was used throughout a particular section.] F ] . . : 1 r 7 F;' I f>(-, Translated by Wilvan G. Van Campen of selected pages of the book from the Japanese for the Southwest Fisheries Center Honolulu Laboratory, National Harine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-2396, January 1989. .-I.