ARGYRIPNUS BROCKI, A NEW SPECIES OF STOMIATOID FISH 

 FROM HAWAII, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON 

 A. EPHIPPIATUS AND A. IRIDESCENS 



Paul Struhsaker' 



ABSTRACT 



Argyripiiiis brocki is proposed as a new species, and new observations on A. ephippiatiis 

 from the Hawaiian Islands and A. iridescens from Australia are presented. A. brocki differs 

 from A. atlanticus, A. ephippiatiis, and A. iridescens in possessing fewer photophores in the 

 VAV + anterior AC series, fewer photophores in the posterior AC series, fewer gill rakers, 

 fewer vertebrae, and a greater interorbital distance. A single small specimen of Argyripnus 

 from the Indian Ocean is tentatively assigned to A. brocki. Evidence is presented that 

 Argyripnus is primarily an inhabitant of the near-bottom community. In Hawaii, A. brocki 

 and A. ephippiatus exhibit nonoverlapping vertical distributions. 



The stomiatoid genus Argyripnus is poorly 

 known. At the time of Grey's (1961, 1964) treat- 

 ments of the group, only 47 specimens of the 

 three nominal species were available for study. 

 Because Argyrip)ius was not present in the 

 open-sea collections of the RV Dana, Bruun 

 (according to Grey, 1964) had earlier suggested 

 that members of this genus may live near the 

 bottom. All but 3 of the previously reported 47 

 specimens have been taken with bottom-fishing 

 gear. The holotype of Argyripnus atla)iticus 

 Maul 1952 was taken alive at the surface off 

 Madeira, and two specimens were collected 

 after being killed by a lava flow entering the 

 sea from the island of Hawaii (Gosline et al., 

 1954; Grey, 1961). The later specimens are the 

 only record of A. atlanticus from the Indo- 

 Pacific region. 



During recent bottom trawling surveys by 

 the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 formerly the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries) 

 in the Hawaiian Islands, numerous individuals 

 of Argynpnus were taken and provide addi- 

 tional evidence that the members of this genus 

 are primarily demersal. The material consists 

 of about 460 specimens of Argyripnus ephip- 



' Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96812. 



Manuscript accepted December 1972. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 3, 1973. 



piatus Gilbert and Cramer 1897 and about 145 

 specimens of a new species, A. brocki, pro- 

 posed herein. Additional observations on A. 

 ephippiatus and A. iridescois McCulloch 1926 

 are also presented. I did not find specimens of 

 A. atlanticus in the new Hawaiian material, 

 and taxonomic judgments relative to this species 

 are based on data presented by Grey (1961, 1964). 



METHODS 



Most sampling was done with 12.5-m (head- 

 rope) shrimp trawls (ST) constructed of 38-mm 

 mesh (stretched) webbing in the body and cod 

 end. Limited sampling was also done with simi- 

 larly constructed 7-m and 21.5-m shrimp trawls. 

 A discussion of the sampling effort and ich- 

 thyological results of the surveys is given by 

 Struhsaker (1973). 



Measurements were made point to point and 

 generally are as defined by Hubbs and Lagler 

 (1958). Measurements and counts of paired 

 structures are usually the average of both sides. 

 The first and second anal fins are separated at 

 the third photophore of the middle AC series. 

 The last two dorsal and anal rays are counted 

 as two. 



Photophore terminology is that of Grey 

 (1964), except that in this case I follow Ahl- 

 strom and Moser (1969) in dividing the IV 



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