A new species, Cirripectes kuwamurai is described based on a single specimen from Shirahama, Japan.Other three species of the genus, C.variolosus (Valenciennes), C.castaneus (Valenciennes) and C.polyzona (Bleeker) from Japan are redescribed. Cirripectes kuwarnurai differs from C.auritus Carlson in its color pattern and by the presence of a notch between spinous and soft portions of dorsal fin.Other characters shared by these two species suggest that they are each others' relatives and form a species group within Cirripectes.

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Schizothorax raraensis, S. macrophthalmus and S.nepalensis are described as new species of the Schizothoracinae, Cyprinidae, from LakeRara, northwestern Nepal. S.raraensis and S.macrophthalmus are distinguished from other species of the genus Schizothorax by the combination of the following characters: the position of ventral and dorsal fins, length of the dorsal, length of the barbel, head length and interorbital width.In addition to these differences, the latter species was characterized by the snout length and eye diameter. S.nepalensis was characterized by the non-sharp horny sheath and the length of barbels.
The food habits of the three species were different from each other.Reproductive isolation was observed between S.raraensis and S.macrophthalmus.
In spite of an intensive survey in many river systems in Nepal, these species were found only in Lake Rara.Therefore, these species are considered endemic to Lake Rara.It seems that sympatric speciation in Lake Rara has been brought about by the more diverse environment.

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Japanese sillaginid fishes are identified as the following four species: Sillago japonica, S.sihama, S.parvisquamis and S.maculata. S. japonica is the most common species in Japan among the four species, whereas S.sihama is rare and is distributed in only the Ryukyu Islands. S.sihama previously recorded from coastal waters of Japan by many authors is considered to be misidentification of S.japonica.

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A new species of the family Callionymidae, Paradiplogrammus, was taken from the Great Barrier Reef, the Gulf of Thailand and Iriomote Island, the Ryukyu Islands.The species seems to mature at a standard length of about 20mm.The male has a peculiar snout;its tip strongly curved downward like a bird's beak.

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Acentronura (Idiotropiscis) larsonae sp.nov.is described from single adult male and female specimens from the Monte Bello Is., W.Australia.This species differs from its most closely related congener, A.australe Waite et Hale (type-species of Idiotropiscis Whitley, 1947), in having a more elevated and anteriorly protruding frontal ridge, a relatively shorter snout (snout length in HL 3.7-3.8 versus 2.8-3.2), fewer trunk rings (11 versus 12), and in having an exceptionally narrow dorsum on the predorsal trunk rings.Distinguishing features of Idiotropiscis (Indo-Pacific) and Amphelikturus Parr, 1930 (Atlantic Ocean) are compared, and these taxa are treated as subgenera of Acentronura Kaup, 1853.

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The river sculpin, Cottus hangiongensis, is characterized as a nest spawner.In general, a male spawns successively with several females and defends the eggs.Sexual dimorphism in body size and some morphological characteristics were recognized in this species;males were larger in size, and had a larger mouth and longer anal fin than females.Females may mate preferentially with large males.Larger males could be superior in nest defense and fanning of eggs to smaller ones, thus resulting in higher survival of eggs.Similarly, the larger mouth in males could be advantageous in acquiring and defending their nests.Such sexual dimorphism in this species may reflect the outcome of sexual selection.

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The gonad, buccal cavity, gill, esophagus, salivary gland, intestine, liver, kidney, fat column, and eye were studied histologically during growth of the brook lamprey, Lampetra reis-sneri. Gonads of all individuals showed ovary-like structures at about 70 to 90mm in total length.In females, oocytes continued to grow.In males, oocytes degenerated, and a tiny testis originated from a small number of residual undifferentiated germ cells.Upon histological observation, the sex was easily determined in individuals larger than 120mm in total length.Initial tooth develop-ment (intraepidermal keratinization) occurred at stage 5 of metamorphosis.Esophagus of the adult type was distinguishable by stage 5.The salivary gland and its duct were also formed by stage 5.Intestine and kidney degenerated during metamorphosis.The liver of tubular gland type changed to the adult type by stage 3.In ammocoetes larvae, main hematopoietic tissues were located in intestine and kidney, but in adults they were found in the fat column.

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Young of giant sciaenid, Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck et Schlegel), were collected from coastal water of Kochi Prefecture, Japan. The young specimens, 18.0 to 44.9cm in total length, were compared morphologically and electrophoretically with adults, 72.5 to 135.0cm.
Some morphological characters of the young did not agree with those of the adult described by a few researchers. It was ascertained that the proportions of head, orbit, and fin ray length changed gradually in relation with growth. Internal morphological characters, such as sagitta, diverticulum of the air-bladder, interorbital septum of neurocranium, show also changes in their shape. The form of caudal fin, which was one of the most important diagnostic characters of this species, also changed continuously from cuneate to truncate. These morphological changes seemed to be the reason why the young had never been recorded until now. There is a possibility that Nibea mi-ichthioides (Chu, Lo et Wu, 1963) which was synonymized with Argyrosomus amoyensis (Bleeker) by Trewavas (1977), may be the young of this species.
To examine genetic identity of the young and adult specimens, the isozymes of muscle and liver were separated by starch-gel electrophoretic method. All of the alleles examined in the young well accorded with those of the adult.

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In the taxonomic study of the parrotfishes Scaridae, Schultz (1969) noted that Scarus viridi-fucatus Smith (1956) from the western Indian Ocean is a synonym of Scarus ovifrons, which is mainly distributed in southern Japan.However, a careful examination of the two species revealed that S.viridifucatus is distinct from S.ovifrons.Several distinct morphological differences between them are as follows (counts and notes given in parentheses are first for S.ovifrons then for S.viridi-fucatus): median predorsal scales (6, 4); scales in third row on the cheek (1, 2);pectoral fin rays (ii 13, ii 12);main and rudimentary rows of teeth on the upper pharyngeal (1+0, 1+2); inter-digitation of upper pharyngeal teeth (shallow, deep); shape of main teeth on upper pharyngeal (semicircular, notched); length/width ratio of the lower dental plate (1.75, 2.80).

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A pair of the bridled triggerfish, Sufflamen fraenatus (Latreille), was reared with other trig-gerfishes and surgeonfishes (69 individuals of 15 species) in an aquarium tank with a volume of 11 m³ (4.3×1.6×1.6 m).The female about 23 cm in total length (TL) and the male about 35 cm TL purchased in October, 1978 were kept in the tank.Spawnings were observed from May through August, 1982.The water temperatures ranged 24.7-27.8°C.
The female began to prepare three shallow cone-shaped hollows on the bottom during the day-time of May 27.The female selected a hollow as the nest, and enlarged it by 20 cm in diameter and 3 cm in depth.She took away coral fragments in the nest with her mouth.This behavior was obserbed before sunset of May 27, and started again at 4: 40 a.m.of May 28.During the prepara-tion of nest making, the male swam freely over the female, and she approached him and returned to the nest.After repeating this behavior, the male passed closer to the female, then she became situated in front of his snout and trembled her body.This courtship display of the female was repeated several times, and the male subsequently came to the nest following her.The male nuzzled and pushed her belly with his snout.As the female gradually settled on the bottom of the nest, the male came close to the female.Just after the male settled by her side, the eggs were spawned and fertilized.It took about one hour from the start of courtship to the end of spawning.After the spawning the male left the nest.The nest was protected by the female whose body color changed rapidly from pale brown with white blotches to uniformly blackish brown with a vertical white band on the caudal peduncle.The female circulated water over the eggs with her mouth and pectoral fins.
The fertilized eggs, measuring about 0.6mm in diameter, were adhesive and spherical.They were deposited in a grey doughnut-like cluster.The newly hatched larvae with their yolk sac were about 1.6mm TL.In larvae three days after hatching, measuring about 2.1mm TL, the mouth and anus were open, and the yolk sac was hardly distinguishable.Four days after hatch-ing, the yolk sac was completely absorbed.

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It is known that bitterling larvae of Acheilognathus and Pseudoperilampus have minute scale-like tubercles on the skin surface.These remarkable structures are considered to be an adaptation to prevent the larvae from being ejected from freshwater bivalves (Uchida, 1937, 1939; Nakamura, 1969).Recently Fukuhara et al. (1982) described morphology of minute scaly tubercles distributed on the surface of the yolksac in the larvae of Acheilognathus.However, they did not mention minute tubercles distributed on the surface of winglike projections of the yolksac in the larvae of Rhodeus species.
The present paper deals with minute tubercles found in larvae of the following species, Rhodeus ocellatus smithi, R.ocellatus ocellatus, R.atremius and R.suigensis.Minute tubercles are small and hemispheric (ca.3-10μm in height).Their distribution is limited to the outside of the yolk projections in the larvae 2 days after hatching.With growth of the larvae, minute tubercles appear on the ridges, such as eye cups, dorsal and hind parts of the head, and ventral and posterior parts of the yolk projections.
From our observations, it was shown that all species of Japanese rhodeine fishes share minute tubercles during developmental stages.

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A deep water liparidid fish, Paraliparis pecto. ralis, was originally described by Stein (1978) on the basis of 8 specimens collected from of Oregon at depths of 1, 097 to 1, 536m.In the summer of 1979 and 1981, P.pectoralis captured by otter trawls in the Bering Sea durin a joint Japan-United States ground fish survey, The new materials are compared with the original description and two paratypes, and additional morphological information is provided.
The present specimens are deposited at the Laboratory of Marine Zoology, Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University (HUMZ).Counts and measurements follow Stein (1978).

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Haedrich (1967: 93, 124, fig.55) reported the occurrence area of Ariomma indica (Day) from India to the East China Sea near the Nansei Islands and Taiwan.He, however, did not show any collection data.
We collected nine specimens of A.indica from the coast of the Kii Peninsula, central Japan.They represent the first record of this species from Japan.Their characteristics are reported in this paper.
Observation of pharyngeal teeth was based on the cleared and stained material.Numbers of vertical fin rays, vertebrae and predorsal bones were counted from X-ray photographs.Means of counts and proportional measurements are shown in parentheses.

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