1974. Electrophoretic comparison of five species of 

 pandalid shrimp from the northeastern Pacific Ocean. 

 Fish. Bull., U.S. 72:799-803. 



Marvin, K. T., and C. W. Caillouet. 



1976. Phosphoglucomutase polymorphism in white 

 shrimp, Penaeus setiferus. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 

 53B:127-131. 

 MISTAKIDIS, M. N. (editor). 



1968. Proceedings of the World Scientific Conference on 

 the Biology and Culture of Shrimps and Prawns. FAO 

 Fish. Rep. 57, 4 vol., 1627 p. 



PfiREZ FARFANTE. I. 



1969. Western Atlantic shrimps of the genus Penaeus. 

 U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 67:461-591. 



PROCTOR, R. R., K. T. MARVIN, L. M. LANSFORD, AND R. C. 



Benton. 



1974. Phosphoglucomutase polymorphism in brown shrimp , 

 Penaeus aztecus. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 31:1405-1407. 



Stern. C. 



1943. The Hardy-Weinberg law. Science (Wash., D.C.) 

 97:137-138. 



Lawrence M. Lansford 



Charles W. Caillouet 



Kenneth T. Marvin 



Gulf Coastal Fisheries Center Galveston Laboratory 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NCAA 

 Galveston, TX 77550 



FIRST RECORD OF THE MELON-HEADED 

 WHALE, PEPONOCEPHALA ELECTRA, IN 



THE EASTERN PACIFIC, WITH 

 A SUMMARY OF WORLD DISTRIBUTION 



Peponocephala electra (Gray 1846) is a tropical 

 pelagic delphinid previously known to occur in the 

 eastern Atlantic, Indian, and western and central 

 Pacific oceans. It is also known as the electra dol- 

 phin, the Hawaiian blackfish, and the many- 

 toothed blackfish. Since van Bree and Cadenat 

 (1968; localities 1-4, 6-9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, and 19 in 



Figure 1) summarized world records, the species 

 has been reported from Thailand (Pilleri 1973, 

 locality 17), the Philippine Sea near Cebu (W. H. 

 Dawbin pers. commun., locality 15), near Towns- 

 ville, Australia (G. E. Heinsohn pers. commun., 

 locality 12), the New Hebrides (Rancurel 1974, 

 locality 10), and the Tuamotos-Marquesas region 

 (K. S. Norris pers. commun., locality 5). Records 

 cited by van Bree and Cadenat (1968) as "in 

 litteris" or in press, have subsequently been pub- 

 lished (Dawbin et al. 1970, locality 11; Morzer 

 Bruyns 1971, localities 6-9). The purpose of this 

 note is to report a capture that extends the known 

 range of the species some 3,000 miles into the 

 eastern tropical Pacific off Central America 

 (Figure 1; triangle). 



The specimen (Figure 2), a male calf 112 cm 

 long (tip of upper jaw to base of notch in flukes) 

 and weighing 15 kg, was captured in a tuna purse 

 seine that had been set on an aggregation of 

 yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, and dolphins, 

 Stenella sp., approximately 90 nautical miles 

 (about 167 km) due west of Champerico, Guate- 

 mala (lat. 14°20'N, long. 91°52'W), in May 1974. 

 More precise information on date and locality of 

 capture is not available. A crew member found the 

 calf dead in the net, placed it in the ship's freezer, 

 and on return to port donated it to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla. The specimen 

 was identified using X rays of the dentition. The 



high tooth count ( 



23 + 



22 + 



23 + 



22+ 



), combined with the 



blunt head and dark coloration, is diagnostic of 

 the species. The specimen was then photo- 

 graphed, measured, weighed, cast in plastic, and 

 sent frozen to the U.S. National Museum (USNM), 

 Washington, D.C, where it was preserved whole 



Figure l. — Known distribution of 

 Peponocephala electra. Triangle is 

 new record; sources of others in text. 

 Closed circles are specimen locali- 

 ties, c^en circles are sightings. Some 

 circles represent multiple records 

 from single localities, e.g., Hawaii 

 and Honshu, Japan. 



457 



