PROCEEDINGS OF THE Marine EloJQg^ccl Uihm.;^\j CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES^ARY Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 57-67, 6 figs., 2 tables. MAR 1 3 1979 W.HH.f^%^^gJ THE SNAKE EELS (PISCES, OPHICHTHIDAE) OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF TWO NEW SPECIES By John E. McCosker Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California 94118 ABSTRACT: The ophichthid eels of the Hawaiian Islands (including Johnston and the Leeward islands) are reviewed; included are species new to Hawaii and extralimital records of species previously considered to be endemic. A key to species identification is provided. Two new species captured in deepwater traps offOahu are described: Muraenichthys puhioilo, subfamily Myrophinae, captured at 275 m, and Ophichthus kunaloa, subfamily Ophichthinae, captured at 350 m. Data concerning the following species are provided: Schismorhyn-chus labialis, Muraenichthys cookei, M. macroplerus, Apterichtus flavicaudus , Ichthyapus vulturis, Phaenomonas cooperae, Callechelys luteus, Myrichthys maculosus. M. bleekeri, Cirrhimuraena playfairii, Brachysomophis sau-ropsis, B. henshawi, PhyUophichthus xenodontus, Ophichthus polyophthalmus and O. erabo. Differences in ver-tebral number of populations of Myrichthys maculosus are discussed and the eastern Pacific nominal species M. xysturus (Jordan & Gilbert), M. tigrinus Girard and M. pantostigmius Jordan & McGregor are placed in its synonymy. The endemism (5 of the 15 species) of the Hawaiian ophichthid fauna and the problems of populations and species differences are discussed. Introduction The snake eels, family Ophichthidae, of the Hawaiian Islands (including Johnston and the Leeward islands) were first treated by Jordan and Evermann (1905) and subsequently re-viewed by Gosline (1951) and Gosline and Brock (1960). Recent collections by the George Van-derbilt Foundation, John E. Randall of the Bish-op Museum, and Thomas A. Clarke of the Uni-versity of Hawaii have added important additional specimens. The Hawaiian Archipela-go contains a particularly interesting eel fauna in terms of its abundance and the range of dis-tributional conditions which exist, including species that are endemic to the islands as well as those that are distributed eastward to Austra-lia and the Red Sea. This, while recognizing the dispersal mechanism allowed by the leptoceph-alus larva, provides an intriguing study for ma-rine zoogeographers. Those considerations, as well as the recent capture of other Hawaiian ophichthids and two apparently undescribed deepwater species, have prompted this review. Methods All measurements are straight-line (point to point). Standard length, trunk length, and tail length were read on a 300-mm ruler with 0.5-mm gradations and were recorded to the nearest 0.5 mm. All other measurements were made with dial calipers and were recorded to the nearest 0.1 mm. Head length was measured from the snout tip to the posterodorsal margin of the gill opening; trunk length was taken from the end of the head to mid-anus; body depth does not in-clude the fin. Vertebrae (which include the last centrum) were counted from radiographs. Comparisons are based in part on specimens [57]
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