FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 82, NO. 4 



a 



FIGURE 38. — Junction of precaudal and caudal vertebrae in left lateral view (middle vertebra of each set of three 

 is first caudal vertebra). Vertebrae numbered from anterior, a. Scomberomorus cavalla, Florida, 688 mm FL, 

 1 x . b. Scomberomorus munroi, Cairns, Queensland, 800 mm FL, 1 x . c. Acanthocybium solandri, Miami, Fla., 

 1,242 mm FL, lx . d. Grammatorcynus bilineatus, Timor Sea, 453 mm FL, 1.5 x . 



diate group, but we found more variation, usu- 

 ally a range of three or four vertebrae, than 

 Devaraj did. As do their counterpart neural pre- 

 zygapophyses, the haemal prezygapophyses per- 

 sist symmetrically into the caudal complex. 



Struts between the haemal arch and the cen- 

 trum form the inferior foramina. Foramina are 

 present from the 18th-19th to the 27th-28th ver- 

 tebra in Grammatorcynus , the 21st-33d to the 

 35th-52d in Scomberomorus, and the 49th-51st to 



the 56th-57th in Acanthocybium. Devaraj (1977) 

 found only one inferior foramen in Acanthocyb- 

 ium, on the 49th vertebra, but we found them 

 on 7-9 vertebrae in 10 specimens from the At- 

 lantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. In Scom- 

 beromorus, inferior foramina begin furthest an- 

 teriorly and extend furthest posteriorly in S. 

 multiradiatus , from the 21st-23d to the 51st-52d 

 vertebra. They begin furthest posteriorly in S. 

 maculatus (29th-33d), S. niphonius (27th-33d), 



598 



