Morphological and Functional Aspects of Marine Fish Larvae H. G. M e r Morphological and Functional Aspects of

The notion that mortality during the larval stage is a major determinant ofyear class strength has been a part of fisheries theory since before the turn of the century (see Marr, 1956; May, 1974; Hunter, 1976, Lasker, this wl-ume). I have been asked to talk about the systematic aspects of the larval stage, a subject as vast and diverse as systematic ichthyolo,q itself. The im- ~ portance of diversity to fisheries science is coming into prominence as we move beyond single species concepts. Since demersal and pelagic species from all depths supply larvae to the surface waters, nowhere else in the life histories of these species is there so great a potential for interaction. One might even characterize the larval stage as that period in ontogeny when major portions of a fish fauna come together and share prey, predators, and abiotic variables. Knowledge of direct and indirect species interactions dur-ing the larval stage will pIay an important role in the evolution of multispe-cies fisheries models. The previous lecturers have discussed larval fishes from the points o