THE FISH FAMILY MORIDAE IN THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC 

 WITH NOTES ON MORID OTOLITHS, CAUDAL SKELETONS, 



AND THE FOSSIL RECORD 



John E. Fitch' and Lloyd W. Barker^ 



ABSTRACT 



Four species of morids (Antimora microlepis, Microlepidium verecundum, Physiculus 

 nematopus, and P. rastrelliger) are known to inhabit waters of the eastern North Pacific. 

 These can be differentiated by numerous external and internal characters including fin- 

 ray counts, dentition, head shape, gill-raker counts, vertebral counts, and otoliths. 

 Microlepidium grandiceps and Physiculus longipes were found to be junior synonyms 

 of M. verecundum and P. nematopus, respectively. 



Only three characters appear to be infallible for recognizing members of family 

 Moridae:'- large fontanelles in the exoccipitals through which elongate hornlike pro- 

 jections of the swimbladder extend and contact the auditory capsules; the otoliths; and 

 the caudal skeleton. Otoliths and the caudal skeleton were used in evaluating the fossil 

 record, and none of the 10 species that have been accepted as being morids, but which 

 were known only from skeletal imprints, could be proven to be correctly identified. On 

 the other hand, four species known only from fossil otoliths are unquestionably morids. 



Morid otoliths are so distinctive and so characteristic that they appear to be reliable 

 for distinguishing many species and most, if not all, genera. Based upon an examina- 

 tion of sagittal otoliths from 15 morid genera it was possible to distinguish four natural 

 groups. These were designated the Mora-group containing Mora, Halargyreus, Antimora, 

 and Lepidion; the Physiculus-grouY) containing Physiculus, Gadella, Tripterophycis, 

 Brosmiculus, Laemonema, and Microlepidium; the Pseudophycis-group containing 

 Pseudophycis, Auchenoceros, Lotella, and Salilota; and the Actuariobim-group containing 

 Actuariolum, a genus known at present from two species of extinct Miocene morids and 

 one species living in the Antarctic. 



The capture of a juvenile Physiculus rastrelliger 

 off Eureka and the finding of their otoliths in a 

 Pliocene deposit near the southern shore of Hum- 

 boldt Bay aroused the curiosity of one of us 

 (Barker) regarding the past and present dis- 

 tribution of this small morid. Every avenue we 

 investigated led to frustration in the form of 

 erroneous or unreliable information that had 

 been perpetuated and compounded through the 

 years. What appeared to be a 1- or 2-day project 

 became a major undertaking just to satisfy a 

 mild curiosity. 



Unfortunately, before he was able to do much 



^ California Department of Fish and Game, 350 Golden 

 Shore, Long Beach, CA 90802. 

 ^ Deceased. 



Manuscript accepted February 1972. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 3, 1972. 



more than lay the groundwork for this study, 

 Lloyd Barker lost his life at sea while acting as 

 an official observer for the California Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game on a sea lion catching 

 boat that sank near Santa Rosa Island. Al- 

 though many of the problems were discussed 

 prior to Lloyd Barker's death, all errors, omis- 

 sions, and oversights are the sole responsibility 

 of the senior author. 



Morids generally were unrecognized and un- 

 accepted at the family level until Svetovidov 

 (1948) pointed out for the third time the unique- 

 ness of the swim bladder connection with the 

 auditory capsule, a character that was infallible 

 for distinguishing morids from other gadoids. 

 In a subsequent study, Svetovidov (1967) dis- 

 tinguished additional morid genera and further 



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