SHORT BIGEYE IN WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



109 



Mexico (Breder, 1948: p. 168; Bigelow and 

 Schroedcr, 1953: p. 410; Boulcnger, 1895: p. 359; 

 Hildebrand and Scliroedcr, 1928: p. 255; Jordan 

 and Evermann, 1896: p. 1240; Jordan, Evermann, 

 and Clark, 1930: p. 323; and Smith, 1907: 

 p. 285). They further noted that this species is 

 found as a straggler in the Gulf Stream as far 

 north as Massachusetts. 



Based on available material, recent field work, 

 and the literature, the geographical range of the 

 short bigeye can be stated as extending from 

 Southport, Me. (Scattergood and Coffin, 1957: 

 p. 156), to Horn Island, Mississippi, and scattered 

 localities in the western and southern parts of the 

 Gulf of Mexico (table 1 and fig. 1). It is also 

 known from Bermuda (Beebe and Tee-Van, 1933: 

 p. 141), Cuba (Fowler, 1942b: p. 75; Duarte 

 Bello, 1959: p. 71), and from the vicinity of the 

 Virgin Islands {Oregon station 2608). This dis- 

 tribution is similar to that given by Briggs (1958: 

 p. 275), with ecological restrictions to be discussed 

 later. 



It is difficult to explain why the short bigeye 

 has almost always been considered a West Indian 

 species, except that early published and perhaps 

 erroneous ranges for fishes from poorly known 

 areas are often copied blindly without reference 

 to faunal studies for specific localities. Evidence 

 for the apparent rareness of P. alius in the West 

 Indies, the Caribbean, and from northeastern 

 South America (where the fishes are often very 

 similar to those of the West Indies and the 

 Caribbean) is found in a number of faunal lists 

 which cover these areas and which fail to include 

 the short bigeye. Some of these are Evermann 

 and Marsh, 1902 (Puerto Rico); Cockerell, 1892 

 (Jamaica); Metzelaar, 1919 (Dutch West Indies), 

 1922 (Lesser Antilles); Meek and Hildebrand, 

 1925 (Panama); Bean, 1890 (Cozumel, Yucatan); 

 Fowler, 1919 (Panama, Brazil, Surinam, St. 

 Martin, St. Croix, St. Christopher, Jamaica, 

 Haiti, Bahamas), 1928 (Bahamas, Haiti, Puerto 

 Rico, St. Lucia, Dominica), 1937 (Haiti), 1941 

 (Brazil), 1944 (numerous Antillean islands and 

 banks. Central America, Cayman Islands), 1951 

 (Brazil, Patagonia), 1952 (Hispaniola), 1953 (Co- 

 lombia); Beebe and Tee-Van, 1928 (Haiti, Santo 

 Domingo), 1935 (Haiti, Santo Domingo); Nicliols, 

 1929 (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands); Herre, 1942 

 (Antigua, Barbados); Beebe and Holhster, 1935 

 (Grenadines); Schultz, 1949 (Venezuela); Erd- 



man, 1956 (Puerto Rico); Cope, 1871 (St. Martin, 

 St. Croix, St. Christopher, New Providence); 

 Puyo, 1949 (French Guiana); Miranda-Ribeiro, 

 1915 (Brazil); Nichols, 1912 (Cuba), 1921 (Turks 

 Island); and Parr, 1930 (Bahamas, Turks Island). 



Recent trawling operations by the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service M/V Oregon in the West 

 Indies (where hauls were made over rough bottom 

 which is good habitat for P. altus) yielded but one 

 specimen, and extensive trawling off the north- 

 eastern coast of South America yielded none. 



The species is often taken by handline and in 

 traps in the waters of Florida and the two Caro- 

 linas, and both of these methods are and have 

 long been regular forms of commercial fishing 

 throughout the West Indies (often conducted in 

 deep water around rocks — where the species occurs 

 in the United States). Markets where all species 

 so caught are sold also have long been a regular 

 source of specimens for ichthyologists in the West 

 Indies. My own collections in the field and in 

 the markets of Nassau, Havana, and Jamaica 

 have failed to produce P. altus. Thus, P. altus 

 either must be rare in the West Indies or must 

 occupy a habitat which makes it extremely diffi- 

 cult to collect. 



I doubted the presence of P. alius in the W^est 

 Indies^ — on the lack of records as previously noted — 

 until I enlisted the help of Dr. P. P. Duarte Bello 

 and Dr. Jose SuS,rez Caabro of the Laboratorio 

 de Biologia Marina of the Universidad Catolica 

 de Santo Tomas de Villanueva at Havana, and until 

 the recent collection of a single specimen by the 

 Oregon (station 2608) off the Virgin Islands (table 

 1). Poey (1856-58, 1866, 1868) did not list this 

 species for Cuba, and it was not until 1875 (p. 114) 

 that he listed a 52-mm. fish as "PriacanthusV 

 and stated that it was like P. alius except for 

 color. His specimeti could not be located to 

 clarify this record. Fowler listed the species in 

 the collections of the Academy of Sciences in 

 Havana (1942b: p. 75) and a specimen (presum- 

 ably mounted) at the Instituto de Matanzas 

 (1942a: p. 65). In August 1958, Dr. Duarte 

 Bello told me that the specimen at the Academy 

 of Sciences was actually P. alius, thougli labeled 

 Pempheris mulleri Poey, and was approximately 

 250 mm. in standard length (mounted). The 

 label read only "Cuba." He and Dr. Suarez 

 Caabro found a second mounted specimen, 260 

 mm. standard length, in the museum of the Naval 



