DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHORT BIGEYE P5£f/D0- 

 PRIACANTHUS ALTUS (GILL), IN THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



By David K. Caldwell, Fishery Research Biologist 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



The initial phase of a biological inventory of 

 the marine waters between the Florida Straits 

 and Cape Hatteras, N.C., included the collection 

 of both plankton and dip-net samples of larger 

 pelagic organisms dm-ing the biological, chemical, 

 and oceanographic operations of the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service research vessel Theodore 

 N. Gill. Nine cruises were conducted to a pre- 

 arranged network of stations (Anderson, 

 Gehringer, and Cohen, 1956) from January 1953 

 to December 1954. Part of the second phase of 

 this inventory is the identification of larval and 

 prejuvenile fishes collected at sea. Series of these 

 small fishes provide excellent opportunities for 

 studying phases of the early life histories. 



Understanding life histories of fishes, even 

 though all species may not be of direct commercial 

 value, is necessary for an understanding of the 

 interrelationships of different forms and for an 

 intelligent analysis of the biological potential 

 of an area. Such is particularlj' true when the 

 species under study demonstrates ecological 

 principles which might later be applied to the 

 management of commercial, sport, or forage 

 fishes. Pseiidopriacanthibs alius (Gill), the short 

 bigeye, of the family Priacanthidae, is an example 

 of such a species. A discussion of the distribution 

 and development of this species contributes to a 

 general knowledge of the biology of the fishes of 

 an area which is undergoing extensive study to 

 determine its biological potential and productivity. 



Tliis paper, based on collections of the Theodore 

 A^ Gill and material from other sources, provides 

 a description of the very early development of 

 the short bigeye and carries this development 

 through to the adult stage. The ecological 



Note. — Presently Curator of Marine Zoology, Los .\ngelcs County 

 Museum, Los Angeles, California; also Research Associate, Florida State 

 Museum, and Collaborator in Ichthyology, Institute of Jamaica. 



Approved for publication, June 2. 1961. Fishery Bulletin 203. 



requirements are discussed, along with life history 

 and sj'stematic notes, and geographical dis- 

 tribution. The study provides meristic, morpho- 

 logical, and morphometric characters that form 

 a basis for comparisons with other members of 

 the genus from other geographical areas. Materials 

 are provided which more clearly define generic 

 relationships and solidify family characteristics. 



It is appropriate that the operations of the 

 vessel named for the author of this species should, 

 nearly a century later, contribute so materially, 

 in the form of data and specimens, to an under- 

 standing of the early life history of the species. 



Various staff members of the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory at Bruns- 

 wick, Ga., assisted in gathering and processing 

 data used in this paper. W. I. Follett and 

 Mrs. Lillian Dempster made many constructive 

 suggestions regarding the manuscript; elsewhere 

 in the text, where appropriate, I have mentioned 

 others who were most helpful during the course 

 of the work. In addition, W. B. Gray, of the 

 Miami Seaquarium, provided useful comments on 

 living specimens. 



NOMENCLATURE 



Pending conclusions from a worldwide revision 

 of this group being prepared by W. I. Follett, 

 of the California Academy of Sciences, and myself, 

 I use the generic name Pseudopriacanthus Bleeker 

 instead of Pristigenys Agassiz, that is sometimes 

 used. Pristigenys was first applied to a fossil 

 fish, and if that form should prove synonymous 

 with the living one, it will have nomenclatorial 

 priority for the species altus (and other species of 

 the Pacific). Myers (1958: p. 40) briefly dis- 

 cussed this problem recently, calling attention 

 to an earlier paper (White, 1936: p. 49) on the 

 same subject. Myers (p. 41) pointed out that 



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