Four giant postlarvae and one juvenile fish of a species of sinistral flounders were collected from Japanese waters.The postlarvae were all in metamorphosing stages and were characterized by having a large body size, standard lengths 59-81 mm, a serrated urohyal, a strongly serrated posterior process on the pelvic bone, three spines on the head and the first ray of the right ventral fin located opposite the second ray of the left ventral fin.The specimens are identified as Taeniopsetta ocellata (Günther) of which development and metamorphosis have not previously been described.

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Two specimens of fish collected in northern Japan Sea were identified Taractes raschi (Esmark), with some reservation, and described fully and illustrated.Published accounts by other authors on T.platycephalus Matsubara, T.asper Lowe, T.raschi (Esmark) and T.steindachneri (Döderlein) discussed and critisized here made the identification of the species in the genus somewhat ambiguous.Naming of the specimens as titled here was made mainly following Abe (1961-1962).List of synonymy of the species was appended.

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Seasonal changes with special reference to histological changes in the oocytes of a Kashmir marinka fish Schizothorax niger Heckel have been described. Germinal epithelium from May to August is prolific in production of young oocytes.Best development of tunica albuginea from June to August provides mechanical protection to young oocytes in stage I.Sub-germinal tunica albuginea is present below the germinal epithelium.Stage I oocytes are observed during the months of June and July;vitellogenesis within the oocytes is completed from August to December (stages II and III) while during severe winter from January to March this fish carries histologically mature oocytes (stage III) in a dormant phase;these oocytes get ovulated only on return of favourable exteroceptive factors in April.The spawning season as evidenced by histology of oocytes and confirmed by diameters of oocytes and gonadosomatic index extends from mid April to mid June.The fish spawns only once a year.

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During the period between May, 1966 and January, 1970, 31 specimens cf a deepsea percoid fish, Howella simplex (Parr), which has not been recorded from Japan, were collected in Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Perfecture.This species was first described (Parr, 1933) from Bahama Islands in the genus Bathysphyraenops, and later reported from the Indian Ocean (Mead and De Falla, 1965). On the basis of examination of materials from various institutions, we synonymize Bathysphyraenops Parr (1933) with Howella Ogilby (1898); the two major characters used for separating those genera by Parr are variable and generically insignificant. The specimens of Howella simplex from Suruga Bay represent the first record of the species from the Pacific Ocean, and the first record of the genus Howella from the northwestern region of the Pacific. Published and unpublished records indicate that the genus Howella is circumglobally distributed in the area between 60°N and 50°S latitude. We agree with Gosline (1966) in the placement of Howella in the family Percichthyidae.

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[in Japanese]

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The cigar shark, Isistius brasiliensis, recorded at first by Quoy and Gaimard (1824) in the Atlantic, has been shown to be cosmopolitan in the tropical and subtropical belts, but records in the Pacific are rather scarce taken in the waters near the Hawaiian Is., Christmas I., Galapagos Is., and off Peru, etc.The specimen (166.0 mm, female), identified here as I. brasiliensis, was colleced alive from the stomach content of a Scomberomorus sp.in June 1959 by M/S No.18 Ise Maru at 16°S, 97°W.The cigar shark is believed swallowed by this predator in the surface water.Comparing the measurements of the present specimen with those given by King and Ikehara (189.0 mm, female), there were found some differnce in proportional length of body parts to the total length, especially in preventral length.However, such morphological differences whether due to individual or local variation within the large Pacific population of the species may not be predicted at this moment.

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