FILEFISHES (MONACANTHIDAE) OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



73 



Amanses Gray 1833 



Fraser-Brunner (1941) reduced Cantherines 

 Swainson 1839 to subgeneric rank within the 

 genus Amanses Gray 1833. The subgenus Aman- 

 ses reportedly possesses "A patch of long spines 

 on side between soft dorsal and anal fin, at least 

 in male." Since this feature has never been 

 reported for western North Atlantic monacan- 

 thids, A. pullus should be of the subgenus 

 Cantherines. 



The pelvic spine of Amanses pvllus is fused to 

 the end of the barbed portion of the pelvic bone 

 that protrudes through the skin (fig. 5). It is 

 similar to the pelvic spine of Monacanthus and 

 Stephanolepis, but unlike the spine in those genera, 

 it is not movable, unless damaged. (With exces- 

 sive pressure the plane of fusion may part, and 

 the spine may be abnormally movable.) 



Amanses pullus (Ranzani) 1842 



(Figures 18, 26, 27, and 28) 



Ranzani (1842) described Monacanthus pullus 

 from a large, blackish specimen without spines on 

 the caudal peduncle, from the coast of Brazil. 

 Cope (1871) described Monacanthus amphioxys 

 from a smaller, hghtly colored specimen, also 

 without caudal spines, from St. Martins Island in 

 the West Indies. The relationship of these two 

 nominal forms is still uncertain, but we believe the 

 forms are identical. The variation in color pat- 

 tern of specimens 38 to 148 mm. S.L. was described 

 by Clark (1950: p. 163) under the name of 

 Cantherines pullus. In addition to her observa- 

 tions, we have examined a large freshly preserved 

 female (158 mm. S.L., University of Florida 7266) 

 that has a black body and caudal fin and tlie other 

 fins pale or colorless. Larger specimens preserved 

 for a long time have brownish bodies and clear 

 fins. 



Diagnostic characters. — Dorsal spines, 2. Dorsal 

 soft rays, 33 to 37; anal soft rays 29 to 32 (table 

 9). Pectoral spine, 1 rudimentary. Pectoral 

 soft rays, 12 to 14 (table 11). Pelvic spine, large 

 and not movable, fused to pelvic bone (fig. 5). 

 Gill slit, nearly vertical with respect to horizontal 

 body axis (fig. 4). First dorsal spine, inserted 

 over anterior part of eye on specimens 30 mm. 

 S.Ij. and larger (fig. 4). A deep groove present 



566129 0—61 3 



behind the dorsal spines into which they can be 

 depressed (fig. 27, B). Body depth, 38.6 to 49.3 

 % S.L. (table 12; fig. 37). Head length, 29.0 to 

 42.9 % S.L. (table 13). Snout length, 25.6 to 

 33.3 % S.L. (table 14). Eye diameter, 5.2 to 

 14.9 % S.L. (table 15). Eye to dorsal spine dis- 

 tance, 5.9 to 9.0 % S.L. (table 16). 



Specimens examined. — 99 of 17.5 to 325 mm. 

 S.L., from Massachusetts, southward along the 

 Atlantic coast, around the coast of Florida into 

 the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and throughout 

 the West Indies (fig. 39). 



The specialized scalation and spination on 

 the caudal peduncle (usually a sex-associated 

 character) is not clearly understood. Two large 

 fresh specimens with orange-colored curved spines 

 on the peduncle have been reported to us (per- 

 sonal communications, Eugenie Clark, Cape Haze 

 Marine Laboratory, and Craig PhiUips, U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service). The three largest speci- 

 mens examined have recurved spines on the 

 peduncle — a 325-mm. S.L. male has 3 dorsal and 

 2 ventral strongly recurved spines on each side of 

 the peduncle; a 322-mm. male has 2 dorsal and 2 

 ventral spines similarly located (both of these 

 specimens have a patch of bristles extending 

 from the recurved spines onto the body); a 288- 

 mm. female has 2 dorsal and 2 anal spines on each 

 side of the peduncle, that are smaller and only 

 slightly recurved in comparison to the spines of 

 the males, and the patch of bristles on the pe- 

 duncle of this female is relatively smaller. A 

 182-mm. specimen (sex unknown) has 2 pairs of 

 large recurved spines and sparse patches of bristles 

 on each side of the peduncle. A 115-mm. speci- 

 men (sex unknown) has 2 pairs of small and only 

 slightly recurved spines on each side of the 

 peduncle. No other specimens of this species 

 examined had paired peduncle spines. Specimens 

 with patches of bristles on each side of the pe- 

 duncle included females 136 and 158 mm. S.L., 

 males 124 and 136 mm. S.L., and sex unknown 

 105, 123, 127, 131, and 138 mm. S.L. Several 

 specimens between 100 and 142 mm. lacked these 

 bristle patciies, and no specimens less than 100 

 mm. had them. A 288-mm. female had large 

 ovaries but no macroscopic eggs, although females 

 of 158, 142, 136, and 136 mm. luul large macro- 

 scopic eggs. 



