Special Publication (J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology) no.7

Online version of original print edition of the Special Publication of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 7A survey of ichthyological literature from 1758 until the end of 1968 reveals that information on eel larvae (leptocephali) is widely scattered and contained in at least 600 different papers. A synthesis of tlris information, essential for the correlation of larval eels with their adult species, is attempted here as a necessary adjunct to the further development of systematic studies on adults. About 450 forms of eel larvae have been described, of which nearly 100 have been at least tentatively identified; some 200 have been named as species of die genus Leptocephahis Grono- vius, 1763 (now a rejected name in Zoology), or of other larval genera; the remainder have not been named. Systematic and bibliographic information on these cel larvae is presented together with a geographic checklist and a list of myomere numbers in leptocephali. Reports of eel eggs and prelarvae are not included but these may be found in some of the papers listed. The leptocephalous larvae of other groups of fishes are excluded from this index, although references are made to relevant sources of information