The number of growth rings was counted on broken and burnt otoliths of eight Lethrinus spp. from two local populations: Lethrinus atkinsoni, L. harak, L. miniatus, L. nebulosus, L. obsoletus, L. ornatus, L. ravus, and L. rubrioperculatus, collected from 1985 to 1996 in waters off the Ryukyu Islands. Growth rings were revealed to be formed annually from about October to June by marginal analysis. In addition to obtaining the three parameters in von Bertalanffy growth equation and the maximum age in specimens, the relationship between age and both ovarian maturity rate and sex ratio (percentage female) was analyzed. The age at 50% of ovarian maturity was the lowest at 1-2 years old in L. harak, L. ravus, and L. rubrioperculatus and was the highest at approximately 4 years old in L. nebulosus. The age at which the sex ratio decreased to 50% due to sexual transition from female in protogynous hermaphrodite species was the lowest at 3-4 years old in the L. atkinsoni Okinawa population and was the highest at 7-8 years old in L. miniatus. The oldest maximum age for specimens was 26 years in L. nebulosus and the youngest maximum age was 12 years in L. ornatus.

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Results of age determination of Anguilla japonica leptocephali collected in the Western North Pacific, 16•‹29'N, 139•‹21'E in July 1990 are presented. The mean age of 18 leptocephali of 19.5-25.4mm TL was estimated to be 35.2 d. Backcalculated birth dates ranged from 26 May to 12 June 1990, with a mean birth date of 2 June 1990. This value was about one month earlier than

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In the printed version of the article, two references by Punkhurst were cited. This name was misspelled and should be Pankhurst.

This study redescribes Bregmaceros mcclellandi Thompson, 1840, based on one specimen (74.4 mm SL) from the Bay of Bengal and 66 specimens (30.0-84.7 mm SL) from Mumbai (Bombay), India, because the type specimens have apparently been lost. The present specimens are characterized by having black dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins and show the following morphology: caudal fin slightly forked; body chromatophores present mainly at the dorsal part; no scales on cheek; vertebrae 52-55 (13-15 ϩ 38-41); dorsal rays 52-59; anal rays 54-60; pectoral rays 18-20; caudal rays 27-31 (principal rays 14); transverse scales 14-15. In the 66 Mumbai specimens, it was confirmed that the distinctive black fin pigmentation developed sequentially with growth, with complete pigmentation first on the anterior lobe of the dorsal fin, then simultaneously on the posterior lobe of the dorsal fin, the caudal fin, and the pectoral fin, and last, on the anal fin. This species is known only from the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Gulf of Thailand. A review of 16 nominal Bregmaceros species indicates that, besides B. mcclellandi, the distinctive dark fin pigmentation is found in B. atripinnis (Tickell), B. atlanticus Goode and Bean, B. japonicus Tanaka, and B. lanceolatus Shen. B. atripinnis is considered a junior synonym of B. mcclellandi, and the others are clearly distinct from B. mcclellandi. Comments are made on some of the characters to more fully characterize the species and for reference in future revisionary and phylogenetic studies.