FITCH and BARKER: FISH FAMILY MORIDAE 



mence adjacent to the sixth from last vertebra. 



Schroeder (1940) reported that A. viola, A. 

 microlejns, and A. rhina are synonyms of A. 

 rostrata (Giinther, 1878), and Clemens and 

 Wilby (1961) and Fitch and Lavenberg (1968) 

 followed this decision in reporting Antimora 

 from the eastern North Pacific. Unfortunately, 

 few of the characters used by Schroeder to sup- 

 port his action are of value for combining (or 

 distinguishing) taxa at the species level. Type 

 localities for A. rostrata, A. viola, A. microlepis, 

 and A. rhina are the Indian Ocean, the western 

 Atlantic, off Queen Charlotte Island, and off 

 Panama, respectively. In view of the great dis- 

 tances separating these type localities, and until 

 material from all four areas can be examined 

 critically and compared in minute detail, we pre- 

 fer to retain microlepis for the Antimora found 

 in the eastern North Pacific. 



A. microlepis has been reported as ranging 

 from Central America (Fitch and Lavenberg, 

 1968) to Misaki, Japan (Svetovidov, 1948), but 

 we have not seen material from south of Ma- 

 zatlan, Mexico, or from west of the Bering Sea. 

 Although we examined more than 50 individuals 

 from the eastern North Pacific for key char- 

 acters, we recorded meristic data on only one, 

 a small specimen (LACM' 30400-2) trawled near 

 San Clemente Island, Calif. 



Microlepidium verecundum (Jordan and 

 Cramer, 1897) 



D. 7-9, 39-42; A. 39-42; C. 29-32; P. 19-22; 

 P2. 2; Br. 7; rakers on first gill-arch 5-6 + 11- 

 13 = 17-19; posterior rakers on first gill-arch 

 3 + 11-12 = 14-15; vertebrae including hypural 

 11-12 + 33-34 = 44-46, 



About seven teeth in a single row form a gent- 

 ly curved bow on each side of the head of the 

 vomer. The lower jaw contains a single row of 

 conical, sharply pointed teeth; in the upper jaw, 

 there are two rows of teeth near the center and 

 three irregular rows along the sides; all jaw 

 teeth are similar in size and shape. A barbel 

 is present at the tip of the lower jaw, but this 



Table 1. — Proportional measurements for three species 

 of morids found in the eastern north Pacific. 



1 Standard lengths are in millimeters,- al 

 pressed as thousandths of standard length. 



other measurements ex- 



* Institutions containing specimens studied are listed 

 with standard abbreviations in Acknowledgments. 



is SO tiny and inconspicuous it often can be lo- 

 cated only with the aid of a microscope. The 

 dorsal and anal fins terminate adjacent to the 

 eighth from last vertebra, including the hypural ; 

 the caudal rays commence adjacent to the fifth 

 from last vertebra. 



Morphometric data are presented in Table 1. 



The unique holotype, described as Lepidion 

 verecundum, was trawled at Albatross station 

 2993 (lat 18°17'15"N, long 114°44'30"W) near 

 Clarion Island in 665 m (364 fm) ; it was re- 

 ported as being a "young specimen, 214 inches 

 long." Subsequently, Carman (1899) noted that 

 in a specimen "only three and one-half inches 

 in length, its ovaries are filled with eggs that 

 appear to be about mature." We examined a 

 female 83.5 mm SL that was running ripe in 

 January and have seen females as small as 67 mm 

 SL with developing eggs in their ovaries. The 

 largest specimen we have seen was 101 mm SL 

 (112 mm TL). 



M. verecundum has been captured throughout 

 the oceanic area from just south of Cape San 

 Lucas, Baja California (lat 22°45'N), to about 

 322 km SW of Pta. San Telmo (lat 15°57'N) and 

 offshore to Clarion Island (lat 114°44'30"W). 

 Within this area they have been taken with mid- 

 water trawls fished well beneath the surface, and 



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