HOBSON: FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS OF FISHES 



1 cm 



off pieces of larger organisms, as does its congener, 

 but instead takes only whole prey. The sharp dif- 

 ference between their diets is reflected in differing 

 feeding structures. The snout and mouth of F. 

 longirostris do not suggest needle-nosed pliers, as 

 do those of F. flavissimus; indeed, for F. longiros- 

 tris, the generic name Forcipiger (from the Latin 

 forcipis, meaning pincers) is a misnomer. Com- 

 pared with F. flavissimus, the mouth of F. lon- 

 girostris is smaller and its jaws do not have the 

 greatly expanded contact surfaces; the teeth are 

 inwardly curved, as in F. flavissimus, but are 

 longer and confined to only two or three rows at 

 the front of the mouth (Figure 27a). Clearly, F. 

 longirostris is adapted to grasping the tiny prey on 

 which it feeds, but not to tearing pieces free. 



CONCLUSION. — Forcipiger longirostris is a 

 diurnal predator that takes small benthic ani- 

 mals, mostly decapod shrimps. 



Hemitaiirichthys thompsoni Fowler 



This plain dark-brown chaetodontid seems to be 

 generally rare in Hawaii (Gosline and Brock, 

 1960), but is numerous in several locations near 



Figure 26. — The head and snout of: a, Forcipiger longirostris, 

 102mm long; F. flavissimus, 103 mm long. (Note: to discount the 

 size difference in their snouts, lengths were measured from the 

 posterior edge of the maxillary.) 



967 



