RANDALL: SURVEY OF CIGUATERA AT MARSHALL ISLANDS 



Figure 26.— Lutjanus bohar, 520 mm SL, 4.9 kg, Ulithi, Caroline Islands. 



of the total food material at Palmyra and 18*7?^ at 

 Christmas. Crustaceans (principally decapod 

 megalops) composed 15.4% of the food among 

 Palmyra fish and 13.3% of Christmas Island 

 specimens. 



The stomachs of 121 adult specimens of L. bohar 

 from the Marshall Islands, 330-635 mm SL, most 

 of which were taken by hook and line, were 

 examined. Eighty-six were empty. Of those with 

 identifiable food, 76.2% contained fishes (includ- 

 ing Lycodontis sp., Cephalopholis urodelus, Ar- 

 chamia sp., Lethrinus variegatus , Scarus sp., and 

 Ostracion sp.), 10.8% had eaten crabs (including 

 portunids), 8.7% contained octopus, and 4.3% 

 shrimps. 



Lutjanus fuluus (Schneider) (Figure 27): The 

 names L. vaigiensis (Quoy and Gaimard) and L. 

 marginatus (Cuvier) are junior synonyms that 

 have often been used for this snapper. It is yel- 

 lowish on the body, the head gray, the caudal fin 

 reddish black with a narrow white posterior bor- 

 der; the dorsal fin is reddish and the anal and 

 pelvic fins yellow. It is a small inshore species, 

 abundant throughout the Indo-West Pacific. It is 

 found more often in sheltered than exposed envi- 

 ronments. Hiyama (1943:48-49, pi. 6, fig. 17) re- 

 ported that Marshallese natives informed him 

 that this fish (which he identified as L. flavipes 

 Valenciennes), rarely causes ciguatera; when it 

 does, the cases are light. Halstead (1967:98, pi. 68, 

 fig. 4) listed it among the ciguatoxic fishes 

 [misidentified as L.janthinuropterus (Bleeker)]. 



Two specimens from Enewetak, 207 and 217 

 mm SL, were nontoxic. 



Randall (1955a) examined the stomachs of six 

 specimens taken with rotenone at Tarawa, Gilbert 

 Islands. One had eaten a small holothurian, one a 

 brachyuran crab, and two contained fishes that 

 were probably prior victims of the ichthyocide. 

 Hiatt and Strasburg (1960) analyzed the stomach 

 contents of six juveniles from Amo, Marshall Is- 

 lands; they reported the following food items: 

 crabs, fishes, amphipods, shrimps, and 

 stomatopods. Randall and Brock (1960) examined 

 50 specimens which had food in their stomachs; 

 54.3% of these contained crustaceans (mainly 

 crabs) and 42.4% fishes. Helfrich et al. (1968) col- 

 lected 51 specimens from Palmyra for food-habit 

 study. The dominant food items were mugilid, 

 mullid, and pomacentrid fishes; crustaceans made 

 up the next most frequent organisms of the diet. 



For the present study 44 specimens 182-250 mm 

 SL were collected in the Marshall Islands, 

 Mariana Islands, and Caroline Islands. Thirty-one 

 of these had empty stomachs. Of those with food, 

 68.4% had eaten crustaceans (nearly all crabs, 

 mainly calappids) and 31.6% fishes. 



Lutjanus gibbus (Forsskal) (Figure 28): This 

 snapper is also reddish like L. bohar, but it does 

 not attain such large size. The dorsal profile of 

 adults, beginning with the nape, is highly convex, 

 which is the basis for the specific name. Schultz in 

 Schultz and collaborators (1953) stated, "This 

 species was taken only in moderately deep water. 



225 



