REVISION OF THE SAURIES (PISCES, SCOMBERESOCIDAE) WITH 

 DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW GENERA AND ONE NEW SPECIES 



Carl L. Hubbs and Robert L. Wisner' 



ABSTRACT 



The extant members of the Scomberesocidae are: 1) Scomberesox saurus saurus of the North Atlantic, 

 ranging into the Arctic north of Europe, and Scomberesox saurus scom Oroides, of disjunct occurrence in 

 the Southern Hemisphere; and 2) Cololabis saira of the North Pacific (with one record attributed to 

 release of bait in the Indo-Pacific tropics), two dwarf species, Nanichthys simulans, new genus and 

 species, of the central Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, and Elassichthys (new genus) arfoccrus , of the 

 eastern centra] Pacific. Some other names applied to Miocene fossils from southern California have 

 been referred, we believe erroneously, to the Scomberesocidae. Elassichthys adocetus is particularly 

 dwarfed but both dwarfs are distinguished by having no gas bladder and by having a single ovary 

 which, at maturity, very largely fills the body cavity with few large ova. All members of the group are 

 epipelagic, and they constitute a major element of that assemblage over a large share of the tropical and 

 temperate world ocean. 



Fishes of the family Scomberesocidae form a 

 well-defined unit, due principally to the presence 

 of separated finlets posterior to the dorsal and anal 

 fins (as commonly found in scombroid fishes) and 

 in having a slender, pikelike body with these me- 

 dian fins set far back (Figure 1). We interpret the 

 scomberesocids as more or less akin to the Be- 

 lonididae, Hemiramphidae, and Exocetidae, 

 largely on the basis of having the lower 

 pharyngeal bones united, and the lateral line low, 

 near the ventral profile, rather than (as in most 

 fishes) high on the lateral aspect of the body. 



The ordinal classification of the family has been 

 variously interpreted since the turn of the cen- 

 tury. For example, it was placed in a division 

 called the "Scombresocidae microsquamatae" by 

 Schlesinger (1909); in the subfamily Scombere- 

 socinae of the Exocoetidae by Regan (1911); in 

 the family Scomberesocidae of the order Synen- 

 tognathi by Jordan (1923) and by others of his 

 school; in the Scomberesocidae of the suborder 

 Microsquamati of the order Synentognathi by 

 Nichols and Breder ( 1928); in the suborder Scom- 

 beresocoidei, including also the Belonidae, in the 

 Beloniformes by Berg (1940); and, more recently, 

 in the family Scomberesocidae of the superfamily 

 Scomberesocoidea in the suborder Exocoetoidei 

 and order Atheriniformes by Rosen ( 1964) and by 



'Scripps Institution of Oceanography. University of Califor- 

 nia, San Diego. La Jolla, CA 92093. Carl L. Hubbs died on 30 

 June 1979. 



Manuscript accepted April 1979 



nSHERY BULLETIN; VOL 77, NO 3, 1980 



Greenwood et al. (1966), who deleted the super- 

 family. Bailey et al. (1970) in general followed 

 Greenwood et al., as did Nelson (1976). Gosline 

 (1971) preferred to recognize the order Beloni- 

 formes, suborder Scomberesocoidei, families 

 Scomberesocidae and Belonidae, and suborder 

 Exocoetoidei, families Exocoetidae and Hemi- 

 ramphidae; Gosline did not refer to Greenwood et 

 al. (1966). Despite varied opinions on the ordinal 

 level, all authors retained the scomberesocid 

 fishes as a familial unit. 



The Scomberesocidae appear to comprise a com- 

 pact group to which we add two new genera and 

 one new species. The genera and their species are 

 characterized in Table 1. Scomberesox and Col- 

 olabis are relatively large fishes (about 350-450 

 mm), have paired ovaries and a gas bladder, while 

 Elassichthys and Nanichthys are dwarfed (not 

 known to exceed 126 mm, and one species not 

 exceeding 68 mm standard length (SL)), have a 

 single ovary, and lack a gas bladder. Also, they 

 have fewer pectoral and procurrent caudal fin 

 rays, gill rakers, and vertebrae. 



Several of the authorities cited above, and 

 others, have indicated that the Scomberesocidae 

 represent an evolutionary line highly specialized 

 for active life at the surface. The modifications of 

 the posterior dorsal and anal rays into finlets, as in 

 various scombroids, is evidence for this view. As a 

 corollary, it seems obvious that a strong swimmer 

 like Cololabis saira or Scomberesox saurus, rather 

 than the smaller, probably weaker Elassichthys 



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