ANDERSON, GEHRINGER, and BERRY: NUMBERS OF VERTEBRAE AND LATERAL-LINE SCALES 



range of 51-61 reported by Anderson et al. was 

 based on previously published records from 

 other geographic areas. Saurida brasiliensis 

 43-49; the range of 40-50 reported in Anderson 

 et al. was based on a low count previously 

 published and currently unconfirmable and 

 on a high count that we have since confirmed 

 in a specimen from the eastern Atlantic. 

 Saurida normani 51-56. Saurida suspicio 

 52-54; a high count of 56 previously published 

 has not been confirmed by us. Saurida caribbaea 

 51-60; examination of additional specimens 

 has enlarged the range of 54-60 given by 

 Anderson et al. 



Many of the specimens used in the confirma- 

 tions above are not included in Table 1, because 

 corresponding vertebral counts were not made. 

 Bilateral symmetry in scale numbers char- 

 acterized one-half to three-quarters of the speci- 

 mens of each species. In the total sample, 

 62fFc were bilaterally symmetrical. Asymmetry 

 appears to be random, 20% having more scales 

 on the left side and 18% having more scales on 

 the right side. Asymmetry was of only one scale 

 difference in all species, except in our largest 

 species sample. In Sy. foetens, which also has the 

 greatest number of scales, of 118 specimens 3 

 had two more scales on one side than the other, 

 52 had one more scale on one side than the other, 

 and 63 were bilaterally symmetrical. 



Correlations 



Frequency distributions of numbers of verte- 

 brae and associated numbers of pored lateral- 

 line scales are shown for the two species for 

 which we examined the largest number of speci- 

 mens, Sy. foetens (Table 2) and Sy. intermedius 

 (Table 3). The trend of positive correlation is 

 apparent from visual inspection of both tables. 

 The coefficients of correlation (Table 1) docu- 

 ment the positive nature of the correlation, 

 Sy. foetens (r = 0.86) and Sy. intermedius 

 (r = 0.76) (Table 1). 



The same kinds of data for the other eight 

 species are given below, with number of verte- 

 brae separated by a hyphen from the number 

 of scales and followed in parentheses by the 

 frequency for that combination: 



Synodus saurus, vertebrae 56-58 scales (2), 

 57-58(1), 57-59(4), 57-60(1), 58-58(7), 58-59(8), 

 58-60(5). Synodus synodus, 55-55(3), 55-56(7), 



Table 2. ^Frequency distribiutions of numbers of vertebrae and 

 pored lateral-line scales in 118 Synodus foetens . 



Table 3. — Frequency distributions of numbers of vertebrae and 

 pored lateral-line scales in 85 Synodus intermedius . 



56-55(1), 56-56(1), 56-57(2), 57-55(1), 57-56(2), 

 57-57(2), 57-58(1). Synodus poeyi, 44-43(4), 

 44-44(2), 44-45(3), 44-46(1), 45-43(1), 45-44(2), 

 45-45(1), 45-46(2), 46-44(1), 46-45(2), 46-46(2), 

 46-47(9), 47-48(4), 48-48(4). Trachinocephalus 

 myops, 54-56(3), 54-57(1), 55-54(1), 55-55(2), 

 55-56(3), 55-57(2), 56-56(1), 56-57(5), 56-58(2), 

 57-56(1), 57-57(1). Saurida brasiliensis, 46- 

 47(4), 46-48(6), 47-49(6), 48-48(3), 48-49(1). 

 Saurida normani, 49-52(3), 49-53(1), 50-53(2), 

 51-53(1), 51-54(3), 51-55(4), 52-54(2), 52-55(5), 

 52-56(1). Saurida suspicio, 49-52(1), 49-53(1), 

 51-52(7), 51-53(3), 52-53(7), 52-54(3). Saurida 

 car/66aea, 48-51(2), 49-51(3), 50-52(2), 52-53(3), 

 52-54(1), 54-55(1), 54-56(1), 54-58(2), 55-57(2), 

 55-58(3), 55-59(5), 56-57(3), 56-58(4), 56-59(1), 

 57-59(2), 58-60(2). 



The correlation coefficients of the samples for 

 all species are positive, ranging from 0.96 for 

 Sa. caribbaea to 0.20 for Sy. saurus (Table 1). 

 The species with the larger number of specimens 

 (19 to 118) generally had the higher correlation 

 coefficients {r 0.76 to 0.96). Of the species with 

 a lesser number of specimens (11 to 14), one had 

 a high positive value (0.84), and the others were 

 low (0.20 to 0.52). We suspect that the relatively 

 low value of positive correlation for five of the 

 species is due to the small and somewhat hetero- 

 geneous samples used for these species. 



Statistics describing the samples of vertebrae 

 and scales for each species (from Table 1) are 

 illustrated in Figure 1. The nature of positive 



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