COLLETTE and CHAO: SYSTEMATICS AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE BONITOS (SARDINI) 

 Table 9.-Continued. 



Total vertebrae 



Species 



Orcynopsis unicolor 



Cybiosarda elegans 



Sarda australis 



Sarda chiliensis: 

 NE Pacific 

 (Kuo 1970') 

 SE Pacific 

 (Kuo 1970) 



Total 



Sarda orientalis: 

 Indo-W Pacific 

 E Pacific 



Total 



Sarda sarda: 

 W Atlantic 

 NE Atlantic 



Mediterranean-Black Sea 

 (Demir 1964, Turkey) 

 Gulf of Gulnea-S. Africa 



Total 



Gymnosarda unicolor 



Allothunnus fallal 



37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 N 



3 24 



17 



11 



3 26 



11 



all bonitos except S. sarda (first to seventh). 

 Posteriorly, towards the caudal peduncular ver- 

 tebrae and caudal complex, the neural spines bend 

 abruptly backward and cover most of the neural 

 groove; caudally they merge into the caudal 

 complex as in Thunnus (Kishinouye 1923; Gibbs 

 and Collette 1967). Neurapophyses are present on 

 all centra. The neural prezygapophyses on the first 

 vertebra are modified to articulate with the exoc- 

 cipital where the vertebral axis is firmly ar- 

 ticulated with the skull. They are stronger at the 

 anterior portion of the vertebrae and are spurlike 

 spines on the peduncular vertebrae and in the 

 caudal complex. Neural postzygapophyses arise 

 posterodorsally from the centrum and overlap 

 with prezygapophyses posteriorly. The post- 

 zygapophyses progressively merge into the neural 

 spine in the peduncular region. The basic structure 

 and elements of the neural arches and 

 neurapophyses are similar in bonitos (Figures 

 51-53) to those of other scombrids (Kishinouye 



Figure 51. -Left lateral view of vertebra bearing first closed 

 haemal arch (middle vertebra of each set of three) in six species 

 of Sardini. 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 (lumps on neural spines are 

 anomalies), f. Allothunnus fallai, California, 680 mm FL. 



II 12 13 



573 



