THE STROMATEOID FISHES: SYSTEMATICS AND A CLASSIFICATION' RICHARD L. HAEDRICH-TABLE OF CONTENTS Historical introduction 31 Methods 35 Material 38 Systematic section 43 Suborder Stromateoidei 44 Key to stroniateoid families 52 Family Centrolophidae 53 Key to centrolophid genera 54 Genus Hypcro>iIijphe 54 Genus Schedoplulus 58 Genus Centrolopfnis 62 Genus IcichtJiys 65 Genus Seriolella 69 Genus Psenopsis 72 Family Nomeidae 76 Key to nomeid genera 77 Genus Cttbiceps 78 Genus Nomeus 81 Genus Psenes 84 Family Ariommidae 88 Genus Ariomma 90 Family Tetragonuridae 94 Genus Tetragonurus 96 Family Stromateidae 98 Key to stromateid genera 99 Genus Stronuiteus 99 Genus Peprilus 103 Genus Pampus 108 Evolutionary trends in the Stromateoidei 113 Distribution of the Stromateoidei 122 Acknowledgments 127 Summary 128 Literature cited 129 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION The Stromateoidei are a small suborder of the perciform fishes, characterized pri-marily by toothed saccular outgrowths in the gullet immediately behind the last gill arch. The stromateoids are all marine, pe-lagic, and widely distributed in the tem-perate and tropical oceans of the world. Most species are rare and infrequently seen, but a few form the basis of fisheries. Adult stromateoids range from less than a foot to over four feet in length. ^ This paper is based on a thesis presented to Harxard University in partial fulfillment of the re-quirements for the Ph.D. in Biology. Contribution No. 1685 from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. -Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univer-sity. Certain stromateoids were recognized in classical times. Stromateiis was the name applied by the Greeks of Egypt to a fish probably from the Red Sea. The name, de-rived from the word for a brightly colored rug, may have referred to the fish's shape and coloration. Later, however, Rondelet ( 1554 ) used the name for a similar Medi-terranean fish known in the contemporary Roman vernacular as fiatola. Linnaeus (1758) described the same fish as Stro-mateus fiatola. The oceanic fish pompilus was sacred to the Greeks. As pompilm accompanied ships, it brought a calm sea (Gesner, 1560). Pom-pilus has been equated with Centrolophiis (Gunther, 1860), and Gesner's figure (1560:113) certainly is of this fish. Thomp-son (1947), however, presents evidence that pompilus is the pilot fish Naucrates. Cuvier Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 135(2) : 31-139, January, 1967 31
BioStor
