'3 QH 1 B4X No. 3, pp. 39-66 25 June 1976 NH PROCEEDINGS OF THE .lOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON REVIEW OF THE INDO-PACIFIC PIPEFISH GENUS CHOEROICHTHYS (PISCES: SYNGNATHID AE ) , WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES By C. E. Dawson Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Museum Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 Recent major works on Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Weber and De Beaufort, 1922; Herald, 1953; Smith, 1963) were based largely on compilations from the literature and examination of relatively few specimens. A number of early errors and inaccuracies have thereby been perpetuated and, for the most part, there is little useful infomiation available on intraspecific variation or geographic distribution. Unlike my predecessors, I have been able to examine collections, of the International Indian Ocean Expedition and several more recent expeditions, from over much of the tropical Indo-Pacific region. These materials and other museum holdings provide the basis for this report on Choeroichthys, an abdominal pouch genus of pipefishes (Syngnathidae: Gastrophori), Methods and Materials Measurements of standard length (SL) were made on a measuring board, graduated in 0.5 millimeter (mm) intervals, and estimated to the nearest 0.5 mm under low-power mag-nification; snout depth was taken with an ocular micrometer; other measurements were made with needlepoint dial cali-pers and recorded to the nearest 0.1 mm. All fin-rays were counted separately. Except in damaged or anomalous speci-mens, anal and caudal fin-rays are, respectively, 4 and 10 in all species of Choeroichthys and routine counts are omitted; fish with atypical caudal fin-ray counts were considered to 3— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 89, 1976 (39)
BioStor
