FILEFISHES (MONACANTHIDAE) OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



By Frederick H. Berry and Louis E. Voegle, Fishery Research Biologists 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



Filefishcs of the family Monacanthidae that 

 occur in the western North Atlantic Ocean have 

 been studied as a part of the biological research 

 program of the United States Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory at Bruns- 

 wick, Georgia. This program is concerned with 

 an evaluation of the fauna off the southeastern 

 Atlantic coast of the United States. However, 

 the study of the filefishes, because of their wide 

 distribution, was not limited to this area. Several 

 of the species concerned may occur north to 

 Newfoundland and south to Brazd, and two of 

 them probably have a worldwide distribution. 



Examination of collections made in recent years 

 — during cruises of the M/V Theodore N. Oill, 

 Oregon, Combat, and Silver Bay off the south 

 Atlantic coast of the United States — by dip net, 

 plankton tows, meter larvae net, and from stomach 

 contents of larger fish taken by trolling, has indi- 

 cated that the filefishes are a numerically abundant 

 group and comprise an important part of the 

 planktonic and forage-fish fauna. Recent catches 

 at trawling stations in this area have furnished 

 additional specimens for taxonomic, morphological, 

 and environmental evaluation. Many of these 

 specimens are in the collection of the Brunswick 

 Biological Laboratory, but several museum and 

 university collections of filefishes were examined 

 to augment this material. 



Nine species of filefishes from the western North 

 Atlantic were identified — primarily from speci- 

 mens taken off the United States. These species 

 are Alutera monoceros (Linnaeus), Alutera scripta 

 (Osbeck), Alutera schoepfii (Walbaum), Alutera 

 heudelotii Hollard, Monacanthus tuckeri Bean, 

 Monacanthus ciliatus (Mitchill), Stephanolepis 

 hispidus (Linnaeus) , Stephanolepis setijer (Bennett), 

 and Amanses pullus (Ranzani). 



It is our purpose to give reasons for use of these 

 names, to briefly diagnose and distinguish the 



Approved for publication, December 22, 1959. Fishery Bulletin 181. 



genera and species, to furnish illustrations of 

 the species, and to list the specimens examined 

 that they shall be readily available for more 

 detailed future studies. 



In accomplishing these objectives we have 

 determined several aspects of the life histories of 

 these fishes, added to the knowledge of their 

 distribution, discovered and confirmed certain 

 anatomical features, described morphological and 

 meristic variation, and through our own studies 

 and from published accounts we have summarized 

 their ta.xonomic relationships. We have been 

 dogmatic in our taxonomic pronouncements con- 

 cerning the several taxonomic problems that 

 remain in order to stabilize the nomenclature until 

 adequate numbers of specimens from the entire 

 geographical ranges of these groups can be studied. 

 We have explained the problems involved. 



Previously, the two most useful references for 

 identifjang specimens of Monacanthidae from the 

 western North Atlantic were publications by 

 Fraser-Brunner (1940, 1941). 



We have found that the early hfe-history 

 stages of the Atlantic coast species occur pelagi- 

 cally in offshore waters, and beheve these waters 

 probably are the principal habitat for those 

 stages. The late juvenile and adult stages tend 

 to adopt inshore or benthic-offshore habitats. 

 Preliminary inspection of the extensive plankton 

 collections made off the coasts of North and South 

 Carolina, Georgia, and east Florida by the Gill in 

 1953-54 (see Anderson, Gehringer, and Cohen, 

 1956) has indicated that larval filefish are rela- 

 tively abundant in waters of the Gulf Stream 

 in this area. Samples taken by dip net on the 

 Gill and other vessels have indicated the abun- 

 dance of juvenile specimens in offsiiore waters, 

 particularly in association with floating seaweed. 

 Although juveniles are taken in inshore waters 

 and are seined on the beaches, the specimens 

 from offshore waters appear to be more abundant 

 and of a smaller average size. Available data 



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