ALTERNATIVE LIFE-HISTORIES OF THE GENUS LUCANIA .1. EARLY ONTOGENY OFL-PARVA, THE RAINWATER KILLIFISH

This is the first of three papers devoted to the description and inter pretation of early morphological development in altricial and precocia l species within the genus Lucania. This study focussed on the early l ife history of the rainwater killifish, Lucania parva. Reproductively mature specimens were collected in brackish impoundments of the St. Ma rks National Wildife Refuge in northwest Florida, and transported to t he laboratory where they served as brood stock for specimens described in this study. Laboratory-reared offspring of L. parva were described according to the saltatory theory of ontogeny, which gives a sampling design based on morphological, rather than chronological, progression . The morphological development of these offspring is described on the basis of detailed illustrations, photomicrographs, and measurements o f mensural and meristic characters. This account of early ontogeny, in combination with a corresponding study on the early ontogeny of the b luefin killifish, L. goodei (Crawford and Balon 1994a), establishes th e empirical basis for an altricial-precocial life history model (Crawf ord and Balon 1994b).