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27 28 29 



Figure 52.— Junction of precaudal and caudal vertebrae (middle vertebra of each set of three is first caudal vertebra) in 

 six species of Sardini, left lateral view. Vertebrae numbered from anterior, a. Cybiosarda elegans, New South Wales, 

 365 mm FL. b. Orcynopsis unicolor, Israel, 545 mm FL. c. Sarda australis, New South Wales, 407 mm FL. d. Sarda 

 sarda, Tunisia, 504 mm FL. e. Gymnosarda unicolor, Truk Islands, 772 mm FL. f. Allothunnus fallai, California, 680 

 mm FL. 



1923; Conrad 1938; Mago Leccia 1958; Nakamura 

 1965; Gibbs and Collette 1967). 



Variable characters are found on the haemal 

 arches and haemapophyses in bonitos. Laterally 

 directed parapophyses, arising from the middle of 

 the centrum, appear distinctively on the third to 

 fifth vertebrae, where the intermuscular bones 

 and pleural ribs are encountered (see section on 

 ribs and intermuscular bones). The parapophyses 

 become broader and longer posteriorly and 

 gradually shift to the anteroventral portion of the 



centra. In lateral view, the first ventrally visible 

 parapophyses are found on the 8th to 10th ver- 

 tebrae as described by Godsil (1954) for eastern 

 Pacific Sarda chiliensis and S. orientalis. 

 Posteriorly, the distal ends of the paired 

 parapophyses meet on the 11th to 15th vertebrae 

 forming the first closed haemal arch as Godsil 

 (1954) found in eastern Pacific S. chiliensis. 

 Nakamura (1965) suggested that the location of 

 the first closed haemal arch can be used to assess 

 relationships within the Thunnini. In the bonitos. 



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