Smith-Vaniz and Carpenter; Review of the Caranx hippos complex with a description of a new species from West Africa 



209 



and Castro-Aguirre et al. (1999) both treated it as 

 a synonym of C. hippos; however, the former sub- 

 sequently recognized C. caninus as a valid species 

 (Eschmeyer'). 



Most recent authors have recognized a single east- 

 ern Atlantic member of this species group, which has 

 been uncritically referred to as Caranx hippos (Fowler, 

 1936; Bini, 1968; Hureau and Tortonese, 1973; Bauchot 

 and Pras, 1980; Smith-Vaniz and Berry, 1981; Smith- 

 Vaniz, 1986; Smith-Vaniz et al., 1990; Bauchot, 1992). 

 In the few cases where two species were recognized 

 (Cadenat, 1960; Blache et al., 1970; Okera, 1978), the 

 scientific names used for both species were misapplied. 

 The name C. carangus Valenciennes [sic] (the account 

 given in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833 is not an origi- 

 nal description) was used for the true C. hippos and 

 the superficially similar new species (C. fischeri) was 

 routinely misidentified as C. hippos. 



Materials and methods 



Abbreviations used for institutional depositories and 

 cooperative organizations are as follows: American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH); Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP); The 

 Natural History Museum, London (BMNH); California 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, San Francisco (CAS, 

 CAS-SU); Food and Agricultural Organization of the 

 United Nations, Rome (FAO); International Game Fish 

 Association, Dania Beach, Florida (IGFA); Institut Royal 

 des Sciences Naturales de Belgique, Brussels (IRSNB); 

 Musee Royal des de I'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren 

 (MRACi; Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 

 (MNHN); Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien (Vienna), 

 Austria (NMW); South African Institute of Aquatic 

 Biodiversity (formerly J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ich- 

 thyology), Grahamstown (SAIAB); Scripps Institution 

 of Oceanography, La JoUa (SIO); Florida Museum of 

 Natural History, Gainesville (UF); National Museum of 

 Natural History, Washington, D. C. (USNM); Universitat 

 Hamburg (ISH, ZMH); Zoological Museum, University 

 of Copenhagen (ZMUC). 



Parenthetical expressions in material examined 

 include number of specimens, if more than one, fol- 

 lowed by the size range in millimeters fork length 

 (FL); cleared and stained specimens are indicated as 

 "C&S." Localities are abbreviated and listed only by 

 major geographic areas for Caranx caninus and west- 

 ern Atlantic C. hippos. Except for those given in the 

 scatter plots, measurements are of limited value in dis- 

 tinguishing members of the hippos complex (and then 

 only for specimens >200 mm FL). Total lengths (TL) 

 are given when that was the only length measurement 

 reported in cited references. All measurements are in 

 mm unless specified as cm. Measurements expressed 



^ Eschmeyer, W. N. Catalog of fishes, on-line edition. Web- 

 site: http://www.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/ 

 (accessed June 2006). 



in percent fork length or head length, are given only 

 in the description of the new species Caranx fischeri. 

 Fork length is measured from the front of the upper 

 lip to the tip of shortest median caudal-fin ray. Body 

 depths are measured from the anterior base of the 

 spinous dorsal fin (DIO) to the origin of the pelvic 

 fin (P20) and from the anterior base of the spine at 

 the origin of the dorsal-fin lobe (D20) to the anterior 

 base of the anal-fin spine at the origin of the anal-fin 

 lobe (A20). Lengths of the dorsal- (D2) and anal-fin 

 (A2) bases are straight-line measurements from either 

 the D20 or A20 to the posterior base of the terminal 

 fin ray of the respective fin. Head length is measured 

 from the front of the upper lip to the posterior end of 

 the opercular flap. Snout length is measured from the 

 anterior end of the upper lip to the anterior edge of the 

 eye. Eye diameter is the greatest bony diameter. Upper 

 jaw length is taken from the anterior end of the upper 

 lip to the posterior end of the maxilla. The curved part 

 of the lateral line is measured as a chord (straight-line 

 distance) of the arch extending from the upper edge of 

 the opercle to its junction with the straight part; the 

 straight part of the lateral line is measured from its 

 junction with the curved part to its termination on the 

 caudal-fin base (end of last scute). Scutes are defined 

 as scales that have a raised horizontal ridge or a small 

 to moderate projecting spine on the posterior margin 

 ending in a point not exceeding a 120° angle; for de- 

 tailed description and illustrations of scute formation 

 and development in Caranx crysos (Mitchill) see Berry 

 (I960). All scutes were counted, including those extend- 

 ing onto the caudal-fin base. Pectoral-fin ray counts 

 do not include the dorsal-most spine-like element. Gill 

 raker counts are from the first gill arch (usually on 

 the right side), and the raker at the angle is included 

 in the lower-limb count; rudimentary gill rakers, with 

 the diameter of their bases greater than their height, 

 are defined as tubercles or short rakers. The anterior 

 dorsal-fin pterygiophore formula indicates the inter- 

 digitation pattern of supraneurals and pterygiophores 

 within interneural spaces; neural spines are indicated 

 by slashes, supraneural (predorsal) bones by an "S," 

 pterygiophores by "2" (pterygiophores with two super- 

 numerary rays and a serially associated ray) or "1" (no 

 supernumerary ray and one serially associated ray). 



Results 



Taxonomy and distributions 



Some recent authors (Amezcua-Linares, 1996; Randall, 

 1996; McBride and McKown, 2000) still follow Briggs 

 (1960) in erroneously reporting a worldwide distribu- 

 tion in tropical and subtropical latitudes for Caranx 

 hippos, although Nichols (1920) had correctly concluded 

 that records of the species from the Indian and west- 

 ern Pacific oceans were based on misidentifications. 

 Other authors (Talwar and Kacker. 1984; Krishnan 

 and Mishra, 1994; Mishra et al., 1999; Khan, 2003; 



