much enlarged marginal scales, the crest not ex- 

 tending appreciably onto the lateral surface of the 

 tail, appears to be a unique feature of Galeus and 

 sufficient for diagnosis in the present treatment 

 of scyliorhinid genera. Other characters, such as 

 the long and structurally specialized claspers, may 

 also be useful in the definition of the genus; but 

 until more Pacific and eastern Atlantic specimens 

 have been examined, I wish to avoid tampering 

 with generic definitions and will rely on char- 

 acters clearly outlined in the literature. 



Species of the genus as presently understood 

 may be divided into two groups on the basis of 

 color pattern. One group comprises plain colored 

 species, sometimes with fin markings of contrast- 

 ing color but. without a pattern of cloudy spots or 

 blotches generally distributed over dorsolateral 

 surfaces. Plain colored species are Galeus sauteri 

 (Jordan and Richardson) of the western Pacific 

 and Galeus jenseni (Saemundsson) and Galeus 

 murinus (Collett) of the northeastern Atlantic. 

 Another western Pacific species, Galeus hertwigi 

 (Engelhardt ) , said to have a short snout and a tail 

 with contrasting color pattern, has been included 

 in the genus Galeus by Fowler (1941). 



The other group of the genus is characterized 

 by the presence of a pattern of blotches or spots 

 over the dorsolateral surfaces. This group in- 

 cludes Galeus melastomus Rafinesque of the east- 

 ern North Atlantic, Galeus polll Cadenat from the 

 west coast of Africa, and the western Atlantic 

 forms treated here. In addition, a Pacific species, 

 Galeus eastmani (Jordan and Snyder, 1904), has 

 been described as having "indistinct clouds of 

 deeper shade." It appears from examination of 

 the type (SIT 7740) that these markings are less 

 pronounced than in any of the western Atlantic 

 forms. Galeus eastmani differs markedly from 

 Atlantic species in being more slender, having a 

 more sharply pointed snout, having a larger spir- 

 acle, and in having heavier denticles. 



KEY TO ADULT SPECIMENS OF WESTERN 

 ATLANTIC GALEUS 



1A. Anal fin long, its origin under ;i vertical through the 

 posterior tip of the first dorsal fin and its rear t i I « 

 nearly reaching (to Within one-halt diameter of the 

 eye) origin of lower caudal lobe__ Galeus caa\ wait 



n. sp. 



IB. Anal fin short, its origin in hack of a vertical through 

 the posterior lip of the first dorsal tin and its rear 

 tip separated from the origin of the lower caudal 



lobe by a distance equal to the horizontal diameter 

 of the eye or more Galeus arae (Nichols) 



Galeus arae (Nichols), 1927 



Figures 4, 5, 7, 20, 21, and 27 ; tables 1, 5, and 6. 



Galeus arae is a much smaller species than G. 

 melmtornus of the eastern North Atlantic and 

 Mediterranean. None of the G. arae seen exceed 

 37 cm. while G. melastomus reaches a length of 

 over 90 cm. G. melastomus lays eggs in leathery 

 cases similar in general appearance to egg cases of 

 other scyliorhinids. Although adult female G. 

 arae with large ovarian eggs have been collected, 

 none have been observed with eggs or embryos in 

 the oviducts and no egg cases have been collected 

 that can be referred with confidence to western 

 Atlantic Galeus. 



Galeus arae is very commonly taken in shrimp 

 trawls off the coast of Florida, both in the Atlantic 

 and the Gulf of Mexico. Examples have been 

 recorded for more than 100 stations of exploratory 

 fishing vessels, usually with several specimens 

 from each station. Collections from single hauls 

 indicate strong tendencies to segregation by size 

 and sex, but no well-defined pattern in the. depth 

 of occurrence of immature or of adult males or 

 females has appeared. 



The records at hand show Galeus arae to be 

 locally common from about 330- to 460-m. depth 

 around Florida, from the offings of Jacksonville 

 to Pensacola, and usually at greater depths, 400 

 to 620 m., in the Yucatan Channel, near Pedro 

 Bank and Jamaica, and around some of the 

 banks and islands of the Caribbean off the coasts 

 of Nicaragua and Costa Rica southward to lat. 

 13°30' N. Three atypical specimens from the 

 vicinity of Puerto Rico, provisionally referred to 

 G. arae,, are from 293- and 402-m. depth. The 

 Puerto Rican specimens are more robust than 

 the typical G. arae and have a poorly defined pat- 

 tern of spots (fig. 20C). They may represent an 

 un described species, but closely resemble G. arae 

 in morphology and proportions. Larger series 

 are needed to assess the status of the Puerto Rican 

 specimens. 



Bigelow anil Schroeder (1948), referring to a 

 series of specimens taken off Tortugas and off the 

 north coast of Cuba, note that one specimen of 

 about 295 mm. has claspers falling short of the tip 

 of the pelvics, wltile in another male of 317 mm., 

 the claspers extend far beyond the tips of the 



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U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



