SHORT BIGEYE IN WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



111 



the species. The records further substantiate a 

 permanent Cuban population of P. alius — at least 

 in the Havana region. The two additional cap- 

 tures are a 134-mm. individual from Jaimanitas, 

 Mariano, La Habana, taken with hook-and-liiie 

 using squirrelfish as bait on June 18, 1960, in 110 

 fathoms; and a 196-mni. specimen taken in the 

 same manner at the same depth and locality on 

 August 8, 1960, with grunt as bait. 



Duarte Bello (1959: p. 71) listed this species 

 from Vedado (presumably the 260-mm. specimen) 

 and cited Jordan and Evermann (1896: p. 1239) 

 and Jordan, Evermann, and Clark (1930: p. 323) 

 for a Cuban distribution. Larger fishes in collec- 

 tions from the Havana region usually must be 

 questioned as to locality of capture, especially 

 when they are old or when no data other than 

 "Havana" or "Cuba" are given. They may have 

 come from the market, and market fishes sold in 

 Havana were often collected in Florida or Yucatan 

 waters (see Caldwell, 1957: p. 97) which is within 

 the known range of P. alius. In view of the 

 findings by Duarte Bello and Suarez Caabro, at 

 least one of the mounted Cuban specimens and the 

 two living individuals must be viewed as adults 

 having valid locality data, and a permanent popu- 

 lation may occur there. 



With the Cuban and Virgin Islands records, 

 there can be no doubt that P. alius occurs, at least 

 occasionally, in the West Indies. An examina- 

 tion of general current systems as outlined by 

 Sverdrup, Johnson, and Fleming (1942: chart VII), 

 Galtsoff (1954: p. 29), and Leipper (1954: p. 121- 

 122) shows that apparently no countercurrents 

 originate in continental waters north of the Carib- 

 bean or in Bermuda waters and flow to the 

 Bahamas, Antilles, or the Caribbean in general, 

 that could carry larval P. alius to these areas from 

 the north. The Virgin Islands specimen is 108 

 mm. in length, and presumably nearly adult. The 

 Virgin Islands and Cuban populations of adults 

 undoubtedly contribute to the Gulf Stream 

 (Florida Current) population of larvae and pre- 

 juveniles as that current flows through the Straits 

 of Florida. A 19-mm. prejuvenile taken from the 

 stomach of a Thunnus atlanticus (Lesson) col- 

 lected in the vicinity of the western tip of Grand 

 Bahama Island (Gill cruise 4, table 1) might have 

 been captured along the eastern edge of the cur- 

 rent flowing by Grand Bahama. This bigeye 



almost certainly came from the Bahamas, Cuba, 

 or the Antilles, as it is unlikely that so small a 

 specimen spawned in the Gulf of Mexico or in 

 Atlantic waters of southern Florida could have 

 made its way across the Gulf Stream. A 2.2-mm. 

 larva was captured in a plankton net at regular 

 station 1 on Gill cruise 3 on the eastern side of the 

 Gulf Stream. Presumably the specimen, though 

 probably just hatched, rode the fast flow of tlie 

 Stream to this point from somewhere in the 

 Bahamas or northern Antilles. 



If the West Indian population of adults extends 

 much to the south of the Virgin Islands, its larvae 

 might be expected to the eastward of the Bahamas 

 as well, as certain portions of the North Equa- 

 torial Current flow from the Lesser Antilles up 

 along the outside (east) of the Bahamas. 



It is likely that the Bermuda population was 

 based originally, and is perhaps in part maintained, 

 on recruitment from the continent or from the 

 West Indies, via branches of the Gulf Stream (see 

 Sverdrup, Johnson, and Fleming (1942: chart 

 VII). 



ECOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION 



FACTORS INFLUENCING DISTRIBUTION 



Pseudopriacanthus alius may occupy two sepa- 

 rate habitats, depending on its stage of develop- 

 ment. The larvae and prejuveniles up to ap- 

 proximately 60 mm. standard length are pelagic or 

 have just left this niche, and these stages frequently 

 are taken offshore by dip-net and in plankton or 

 other surface-fishing nets. With one exception, 

 possibly based on adults (a comment by Fowler, 

 1940: p. 13, that the species was taken in the fall 

 by trawlers working off Cape May, N.J.), all of 

 the specimens that I have seen, and inferences in 

 the literature for others, indicate that P. alius is 

 a straggler, through the medium of the Gulf 

 Stream, north of about Cape Hatteras, N.C. I 

 found no large specimens from north of that point 

 in museums, although very small specimens were 

 quite numerous. In continental waters south of 

 Cape Hatteras and in the Gulf of Mexico, large 

 adults were taken by U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service explorations and sport-fisliing and com- 

 mercial boats of various kinds. Large specimens 

 also were seen in museums. Larvae and pre- 

 juveniles from southern waters also were collected 

 or were seen iii museums. 



