FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78, NO. 2 



Al-Hussaini (1947) listed the food of the species 

 as gastropods {Turbo, Trochus), Dentalium, and 

 hermit crabs. Hiatt and Strasburg (1960) found 

 the crushed remains of sand-dwelling pelecypods 

 and gastropods in a single specimen (identified as 

 C. angulata) from Enewetak. 



Randall, G. J. Vermeij, and H. A. Rehder (man- 

 uscript in progress) will report in detail on the food 

 habits of this wrasse. The principal food animals 

 are gastropods, pelecypods, pagurid crabs, 

 echinoids, and brachyuran crabs. 



Epibulus insidiator (Pallas) (Figure 44): This 

 unmistakable labrid, popularly known as the 

 slingjaw wrasse because of its ability to enor- 

 mously protrude its mouth, occurs from the Red 

 Sea and east Africa to French Polynesia. Halstead 

 (1967) listed nine references citing it as 

 ciguatoxic. 



Five specimens from Enewetak, 175-228 mm 

 SL, 0.34-0.55 kg, were tested for toxicity. None 

 caused any symptoms in the mongooses. 



Hiatt and Strasburg (1960) collected one speci- 

 men from Enewetak and one from Bikini for food- 

 habit study; both fish had eaten alpheid shrimps. 

 They wrote, "This wrasse habitually feeds in 

 ramose corals by extending its exceedingly pro- 

 tractile snout into the interstices to capture small 

 alpheid shrimps and xanthid crabs living there." 



For the present food-habit study 16 specimens, 

 183-240 mm SL, were collected from the Marshall 



Figure 43. — Cons aygula, 380 mm SL, Marcus Island. 



Islands, Johnston Island, American Samoa, and 

 the Society Islands. Two had empty stomachs; six 

 had eaten only fishes and four only crabs. Other 

 food items were shrimps, unidentified crusta- 

 ceans, polychaetes, bryozoans, and unidentified 

 eggs. 



Scaridae (Parrotfishes) 



Hipposcarus harid (Forsskal) (Figure 45): 

 Smith (1956) created a new genus, Hipposcarus, 

 for this species on the basis of the triangular patch 

 of scales on the cheek with three or four rows 

 behind, pointed snout, and minute nostrils. Al- 

 though Schultz (1958, 1969) did not recognize this 

 genus, it will be considered valid by Nelson and 

 Randall. 



Smith (1959) described a Philippine form of this 

 species as new, naming it H. schultzi. Schultz 

 (1969) preferred to regard this form, for which he 

 gave the range central and western Pacific Ocean, 

 as a subspecies, Hipposcarus harid longiceps 

 (Cuvier and Valenciennes). 



Halstead (1967) has listed four references re- 

 porting the occasional toxicity of this parrotfish. 



®G. J. Nelson, Department of Ichthyology, American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York, and the author conferred in Oc- 

 tober 1977 on the generic limits of the Scaridae. Eventual publi- 

 cation is planned. 



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