HUBBS and WISNER: REVISION OF THE SAURIES 



White Sea in Kandalaksha Bay, about 67° N, 

 32°45' E (Andriashev 1954, after Novikov). Berg 

 (1939) reported it from the western entrance to the 

 Strait of Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya Island 

 labout 73 = 16' N, 56°27' E); Andriashev (1954) 

 gave the length of this specimen as 25 cm. Pre- 

 sumably the species is rare that far north and is a 

 summer migrant. However, it has been reported 

 (Anonymous 1970) that four Russian vessels cap- 

 tured 7 to 10 metric tons per vessel per day of 

 "saury" in late September 1969 near Novaya Zem- 

 lya. W. L. Klawe'*^ feels that these large catches of 

 Scorn beresox so far north actually represented 

 either "saida" (Pollachius virens, the Atlantic pol- 

 lock) or "saika" (Boreogadus saida, the Arctic cod), 

 and that the use of the Russian vernacular "saira" 

 ( = saury) was either a misprint or misinterpreta- 

 tion. 



The southern extension of S. s. saurus into the 

 central North Atlantic, to 15° N (Figure 14) is 

 probably due to the southeasterly flowing currents 

 of the huge gyre that extends across the ocean 

 between about 40° and 20° N; the southern border 

 of this gyre forms the northern boundary of the 

 west-flowing North Equatorial Current; its south- 

 erly boundary reaches to about 5° N. 



Nanichthys is common in the more central parts 

 of the North and South Atlantic Ocean but is not 

 common in the Indian Ocean (Figure 12). We enter 

 on the distributional chart (Figure 12) a question 

 mark in the Red Sea on the dubious basis of Boro- 

 din's (1930) record of "Scomberesox saurus, 

 young" from the "Red Sea" (accepted by Fowler 

 1956). The record is questioned because Borodin's 

 identifications have proved to be commonly inac- 

 curate, and we have not seen the specimen (which 

 has been reported to us as no longer extant in the 

 Vanderbilt Museum). If the record was not based 

 on a juvenile hemiramphid or other nonscom- 

 beresocid synentognath, it may have been based 

 on Nanichthys, which we have seen from Zan- 

 zibar. We also enter a question mark (Figure 12) in 

 reference to the record of S. saurus reported by J. 

 L. B. Smith (1955). Smith" has stated: "With re- 

 gai-d to the Aldabra record, I regret that we cannot 

 find the specimen. In our field notes this species is 

 entered as 'Juvs. in stomach of Tunny.' Neither my 



wife nor I can remember whether that material 

 was kept or not; it probably was in a bad state." 



The records of capture of Nanichthys in the In- 

 dian Ocean are too few to warrant more than con- 

 jecture as to limits of distribution there; it is either 

 uncommon or has been very infrequently taken. 

 No specimens resulted from the broad station 

 coverage of the International Indian Ocean Ex- 

 pedition, 1963-64. N. V. Parin'* did not encounter 

 any specimens of Nanichthys, although he did re- 

 port many captures of S. s. scoinbroides (Figure 

 14). Sauvage (1891) listed "Scombresox saurus" 

 from near Madagascar, within a rather broad area 

 bounded by "3^ et 26^ paralleles et les 42^ et 65"^ 

 meridiens." Misidentification is possible as Sauv- 

 age included species of Belonidae, Hemiram- 

 phidae, and Exocoetidae in his "Scombresocidae"; 

 no size or number of specimens was given. 



In most of the records of Nanichthys from the 

 North Atlantic Ocean, the greatest number of cap- 

 tures lie within the large eddy system and easterly 

 of about 40° W, extending to the African coast. The 

 southern border of the range, ca. 10° N, is at about 

 the middle of the North Equatorial Current, and 

 the northern border, at ca. 35° N, at the northern 

 margin of the eddy and the southern margin of the 

 Gulf Stream and of its continuation — the North 

 Atlantic Current. There is little difference in cur- 

 rent structure between winter and summer in the 

 southern portion of the North Atlantic (Anony- 

 mous 1965), and the currents are relatively slow 

 during both periods. Oddly, Nanichthys is in- 

 frequently taken west of about 40° W, the most 

 westerly occurrence being near St. Thomas Island, 

 West Indies (Figure 12 1. Nanichthys appears to be 

 more antitropical in distribution than does Elas- 

 sichthys. Ueyanagi et al. (1972) mapped the oc- 

 currence of a juvenile at about 02° S, 10° W (Figure 

 12). 



In the Atlantic, in both hemispheres, this 

 dwarfed form has often been confused by authors 

 with the young of Scomberesox. The material re- 

 ported by Murray and Hjort ( 1912) ("M" in Figures 

 12 and 14), and by Liitken ( 1880) from the North 

 Atlantic in part represent Nanichthys. Each au- 

 thor stated that the young of Scomberesox were 

 taken in great numbers in collections from the 

 open Atlantic; each figured (as young of Scom- 

 beresox saurus) the distinctive beak structure of 



'^W. L. Kla we, Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission. La 

 JoUa, Calif., pers. commun. 20 March 1970. 



"J. L. B. Smith, Department of Ichthyology, Rhodes Univer- 

 sity, Grahamstown, South Africa, pers. commun. 20 November 

 1964. 



'*N. V. Parin, P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Akademia 

 117218 Moscow. Krasikowa 23, U.S.S.R., pers. commun. 14 Sep- 

 tember 1978. 



557 



