252 



Fishery Bulletin 88(2) 1990 



and Kawasaki 1981, Hashimoto 1984). Isozyme differ- 

 ences have indicated three separate genetic stocks (one 

 A. hexapterus and two /I. personatus; Hashimoto 1984), 

 and recent electrophoretic analysis confirms the ex- 

 istence of a northern and southern population of ^4. per- 

 sonatus as well as a possible new species or subspecies 

 (Okamota et al. 1988, Okamota 1989). Morphological 

 differences, however, are not significant between pop- 

 ulations and between species, and it remains to be 

 decided if designation of subspecies within this species 

 complex is appropriate (Hashimoto 1984). 



Problems also occur in defining limits between North 

 Pacific and western North Atlantic species o{ Ammo- 

 dytes. Some investigators (Lindberg 1937, Andriashev 

 1954, Walters 1955, Richards et al. 1963) have sug- 

 gested that A. hexapterus is circumpolar and extends 

 from the Pacific into the Arctic and North Atlantic 

 oceans. These workers have argued that/l. hexapterus 

 is synonymous with A. americanus and/or >!. marinus. 

 A limited number of A. hexapterus (N = 5) from Alaska 

 and A. marinus (N = 15) from the British Isles were 

 examined and no distinct morphological or meristic 

 characters were found to clearly separate these species 

 from those occurring in the western North Atlantic. 

 Bothyl. hexapterus and A. mminus, however, are usual- 

 ly characterized as occurring in deeper, offshore waters. 

 Obviously, the entire genus is in need of revision. 



Acknowledgments 



For loan or donation of material, we thank Kenneth 

 W. Able (Rutgers University), Eugenia B. Bohlke 

 (ANSP), Bruce Burns (NMFS Narragansett Labora- 

 tory), Barry Chernoff (FMNH), Michael P. Fahay 

 (NMFS Sandy Hook Laboratory), William L. Fink 

 (UMMZ), Karsten E. Hartel (MCZ), Don E. McAllister 

 (NMC), John A. Musick (VIMS), Gareth Nelson 

 (AMNH), J0rgen G. Nielsen (ZMUC), and Lou Van 

 Guelpen (ARC). The NMFS Woods Hole Laboratory 

 assisted in the collection of fresh material. A large file 

 of radiographs of Ammodytes, made to search for 

 vertebral anomalies, was loaned to us by the NMFS 

 Oxford Laboratory. James D. Felley provided statis- 

 tical advice. Frank P. Almeida, NMFS Woods Hole 

 Laboratory, supplied the data for Figure 1. Figure 3 

 was drawn by Keiko Hiratsuka Moore. Douglas W. 

 Nelson (UMMZ) provided a xerox copy of Perlmutter's 

 unpublished dissertation. Drafts of the manuscript 

 were reviewed by Kenneth W. Able, Laurence Buckley, 

 Michael P. Fahay, Irv Kornfield, Thomas A. Munroe, 

 Theodore W. Pietsch, and Sarah W. Richards. G.H. 

 Winters critically reviewed several drafts of the 

 manuscript and many of his comments were useful in 

 revising the paper, although we do not agree on the 



interpretations of some aspects of geographic variation 

 in Ammodytes. 



Citations 



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