Early Osteological Development of White Perch and Striped Bass with Emphasis on Identification of Their Larvae

A cartilage and bone staining technique was employed to study the developmental osteology of the striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and white perch (Morone americana). Special attention was given to those osteological characters that appeared to be unique to the larvae of each species. Larval striped bass and white perch exhibited diagnostic differences in the position and shape of the median ethmoid, predorsal bones, dorsal- and anal-fin pterygiophores, vertebral column, and caudal skeleton. These differences were discernible at the earliest appearance of these elements as cartilage, and allow identification of striped bass and white perch larvae above a length of about 7.5 mm.