FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 74, NO. 1 



and Atlantic oceans and is narrowed along the 

 equator to the west. In the western part of the 

 Pacific and Atlantic, the species appears to be 

 rare. Records of larvae from the Indian Ocean 

 were presented by Nellen (1973). 



Geographic Variation 



Most of the specimens studied from each area 

 were in poor condition, which added to the vari- 

 ability of body proportions (Table 1). No significant 

 difference was found in any morphometric 

 character between regions. Meristic characters of 

 32 specimens each from four areas are presented 

 in Table 2. Samples from the two eastern Pacific 



areas showed no significant differences between 

 means of any meristic character Indian Ocean 

 specimens differed from Pacific material in mean 

 vertebral counts (30.4 vs. 30.9), pectoral-fin ray 

 counts (15.2 vs. 15.7), and in gill raker counts (9.1 

 vs. 7.9). Atlantic material differed from Pacific 

 material in dorsal-fin ray counts (12.0 vs. 11.4), in 

 anal-fin ray coimts (13.4 vs. 12.8), in gill raker 

 counts (9.2 vs. 7.9), and in pectoral-fin ray counts 

 (15.0 vs. 15.7). Atlantic material differed from In- 

 dian Ocean material in dorsal-fin ray counts (12.0 

 vs. 11.1), anal-fin ray counts (13.4 vs. 12.9), and 

 vertebral counts (31.1 vs. 30.4). Although these 

 differences are small, they are as marked be- 

 tween Indian and Atlantic ocean specimens as be- 



TABLE 1. — Comparison of morphometric characters of Scopelengys tristis from four geographic areas {N = 32 for each area). 



Table 2.— Meristic data for Scopelengys tristis from the eastern North 

 Pacific, eastern tropical Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. 



146 



