haden in the South Atlantic summer fishery alone 

 was 34,435 metric tons. 



Estimates of the thread herring population 

 size expressed in metric tons equal approxi- 

 mately 45,000 ± 23,000 in 1968 and 71,000 

 ± 21,000 in 1969. The 95% confidence inter- 

 vals suggest that true population size might vary 

 from 22,000 to 92,000 metric tons. Thus, the 

 thread herring resource appears capable of sup- 

 porting a larger fishery at this time since not 

 more than 10% of the population was harvested 

 in 1968 or 1969, but it does not appear to have 

 the capacity to offer an alternate resource for 

 the Atlantic menhaden fishery. Thread herring 

 distribution is generally limited to the South At- 

 lantic area, whereas Atlantic menhaden are dis- 

 tributed along most of the Atlantic coast of the 

 United States. A 50% harvest rate, at most, 

 would amount to little more than the present 

 menhaden landings in the South Atlantic sum- 

 mer fishery. 



Literature Cited 



Berry, F. H., and I. Barrett. 



1963. Gillraker analysis and speciation in the 

 thread herring genus Opisthonema. [In English 

 and Spanish.] Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Comm., 

 Bull. 7:111-190. 

 Reintjes, J. W., AND F. C. June. 



1961. A challenge to the fish meal and oil industry 

 in the Gulf of Mexico. Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish. 

 Inst., 13th Annu. Sess., p. 62-66. 

 RiCKER, W. E. 



1958. Handbook of computations for biological sta- 

 tistics of fish populations. Fish. Res. Board Can., 

 Bull. 119, 300 p. 



Paul J. Pristas 

 Randall P. Cheek 



National Marine Fisheries Service 

 Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center 

 Beaufort, NC 28516 



^ Presently stationed at the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service Field Station, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561. 



MERISTIC CHARACTERS OF SOME 



MARINE FISHES OF THE 



WESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN' 



This report presents data on meristic characters 

 from radiographs of 642 species of marine fishes 

 representing 113 families, collected from Cape 

 Hatteras, N.C., to northern Brazil, including the 

 Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Most of 

 the specimens were collected on cruises of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service. The chart- 

 ered vessel Silver Bay and the NMFS research 

 vessel Oregon made these cruises from the Ex- 

 ploratory Fishing and Gear Research Base, 

 Pascagoula, Miss., and the Exploratory Fishing 

 and Gear Research Station, St. Simons Island, 

 Ga. Additional material was obtained from 

 shrimp trawling and beach seining in coastal 

 Georgia. Papers by Hollister (1936, 1937a, b, 

 1940, 1941), Clothier (1950), Hubbs and Lagler 

 (1958), and Lagler, Bardach, and Miller (1962) 

 were helpful in determining vertebral and other 

 skeletal characters. The phylogenetic arrange- 

 ment and spelling of families, genera, and spe- 

 cies were made, when applicable, in accordance 

 with the American Fisheries Society's List of 

 Common and Scientific Names of Fishes ( Bailey, 

 1970). 



Methods and Procedures 



We x-rayed at least four specimens of most 

 species; for some species fewer than four were 

 available. Specimens ranged from 12 to 580 mm 

 standard length (SL). Specimens smaller than 

 about 60 mm SL were x-rayed with a soft-ray 

 machine and larger specimens with a hard-ray 

 machine. 



Counts of precaudal and caudal vertebrae, 

 dorsal and anal spines, and soft rays, and pri- 

 mary and secondary caudal rays were made with 

 the aid of a dissecting microscope or an x-ray 

 illuminator. These meristic counts for all spe- 

 cies were made independently by each of us; 



^ Contribution No. 99, National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, Southeast Fisheries Center, Brunswick Labora- 

 tory, Brunswick, GA 31520. 



301 



