COLLETTE and RUSSO: SPANISH MACKERELS 



dominal) and caudal (Tables 6-8). The first caudal 

 vertebra is defined as the first vertebra that 

 bears a notably elongate haemal spine and lacks 

 pleural ribs. Vertebral counts include the uro- 

 style which bears the hypural plate. Of the three 

 genera, Acanthocybium has the most vertebrae 

 (62-64), Grammatorcynus the least (31), with the 

 species of Scomberomorus falling between (41- 

 56). The same situation exists with precaudal 

 vertebrae (Acanthocybium 30-32, Scomberomo- 

 rus 16-23, Grammatorcynus 12) and caudal ver- 

 tebrae (Acanthocybium 31-33, Scomberomorus 

 20-36, Grammatorcynus 19). The presence of only 

 31 vertebrae in Grammatorcynus is a primitive 

 condition agreeing with Scomber and Rastrel- 

 liger, the most primitive members of the Scom- 

 brinae. The increased number of vertebrae in 

 Acanthocybium is clearly a specialization. 



Within Scomberomorus, S. multiradiatus has 

 the most vertebrae (54-56), followed by S. macu- 

 latus (51-53), S. munroi (50-52), and S. guttatus 

 (47-52). The fewest vertebrae are found in S. 

 cavalla (41-43) and S. sinensis (41-42). Vertebral 

 counts are useful in distinguishing species that 

 had previously been confused (Collette and Russo 

 1979); S. koreanus (46) from S. guttatus (usually 

 48-51) as shown by Devaraj (1976); S. brasiliensis 

 (47-49) from S. maculatus (51-53) as shown by 

 Collette et al. (1978); and S. munroi (50-52) from 

 S. niphonius (48-50) as shown by Collette and 

 Russo (1980). In general, low vertebral number is 

 considered primitive in the genus, high vertebral 

 number advanced. 



Species with similar total numbers of vertebrae 

 may differ in numbers of precaudal and caudal 

 vertebrae. Both S. cavalla and S. sinensis have 



TABLE 6. — Number of precaudal vertebrae in Acanthocybium, Grammator- 

 cynus, and the species of Scomberomorus. 



Species 



12 / / 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 // 30 31 32 



N 



S. brasiliensis 

 S cavalla 

 S. commerson 

 S. concolor 

 S. guttatus 

 S. koreanus 

 S. lineolatus 

 S. maculatus 

 S multiradiatus 

 S. munroi 

 S niphonius 

 S. pluhlineatus 

 S queenslandicus 

 S. regalis 

 S. semifasciatus 

 S. sierra 

 S. sinensis 

 S. tritor 



Acanthocybium 

 Grammatorcynus 



1 28 



4 78 1 



14 



TABLE 7. — Number of caudal vertebrae in Acanthocybium, Grammatorcynus, and the species of 



Scomberomorus. 



Species 



19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 



S brasiliensis 

 S cavalla 

 S. commerson 

 S concolor 

 S. guttatus 

 S koreanus 

 S lineolatus 

 S. maculatus 

 S. multiradiatus 

 S munroi 

 S. niphonius 

 S. pluhlineatus 

 S. queenslandicus 

 S. regalis 

 S. semifasciatus 

 S. sierra 

 S sinensis 

 S. tritor 



Acanthocybium 

 Grammatorcynus 



7 72 



11 



23 



28 



15 18 



10 13 



14 



595 



