522 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Table 3. — Weight frequency of shorlnose spearjish, Tet- 

 rapturus angustirostris, from the Honolulu market in 

 1961 



[Data collected by the Hawaiian Division of Fish and Qame] 



Food 



We have notes on the contents of 6 stomachs 

 of which 2 were empty and the other 4 contained 

 squid. Tliree stomachs contained fish of which 

 only bramids were identified. 



Synonymy and references 



Tetrapturus angustirostris, Tanaka, 1914:324 (Japan); 

 Nakamura, 1937 (Formosa); Nakamura, 1938:24 

 (Formosa); LaMonte and Marcy, 1941:2 (Japan); 

 Nakamura, 1942 (Formosa); Hirasaka and Naka- 

 mura, 1947:11 (Formosa); Nakamura, 1949:56 (Ja- 

 pan); Rosa, 1950:159 (Japan); Nakamura, 1951:35 

 (northwestern Pacific). 



Tetrapturus illingworthi, Jordan and Evermann, 1926:32, 

 pi. 8 THawaii) ; LaMonte and Marcy, 1941:2; Brock, 

 1950 (Hawaii); Rosa, 1950:161 (Hawaii). 



Tetrapturus kraussi, Jordan and Evermann, 1926 "33, 

 pi. 9 (Hawaii). \ 



Tetraptxirus brevirostris, De Beaufort and Chapman, 

 1951:238 (850-mm. specimenl; Fowler, 1928:136 

 (Hawaii). 



Not Histiophorus brevirostris, Playfair and Ounther, 

 1866:53, 145 (Indian Ocean). 



Not Tetrapturus ectenes, Jordan and Evermann, 1926:34, 

 pi. 11, fig. 2 (Haw.aii). 



Istiophorus orientalis (Temminck and Schlegel) 



Sailfish 



Bashokajiki (Japan) 



Distinguishing characteristics 



This genus is effectively distinguished from all 

 other spearfishes by its very high first dorsal fin. 

 It also has a slenderer, more greatly compressed 

 body and much longer pelvic fins. 



Problems of identification arise within the genus 

 because so many species have been described. 



Those listed by Jordan and Evermann (1926) are 

 differentiated mostly on the basis of the inter- 

 space between the dorsal fins, whether or not that 

 space has spines, the shape of the first dorsal, the 

 color, the length of the pectoral, the length of the 

 spear, or the relative size of the second dorsal 

 and second anal fins. We have seen only a few 

 sailfish, but most of these characters are so variable 

 in the other spearfishes that they have little value 

 for identifying species. 



There seems little doubt that the species occur- 

 ring in the central Pacific should be orientalis, 

 which most authors have used. On the basis 

 of a cast in the Bishop Museum,' Jordan and 

 Ball, in Jordan and Evermann (1926), also 

 describe eriquius from Hawaii in which the first 

 dorsal fin is subtruncated behind with only 34 

 dorsal spines. The photo in Jordan and Ever- 

 mann (p. 101) suggests that the posterior part of 

 the dorsal fin was missing from the cast. Further, 

 there are no reports from Hawaiian fishermen 

 of two species of sailfish. We, therefore, regard 

 eriquius as a synonym of orientalis. 



Distribution in the Pacific 



Nakamura (1949) gave the distribution of the 

 sailfish as extending from the northeastern coast 

 of Japan south and noted that it is comparatively 

 abundant in the Kinan Sea area. He also stated 

 that this species often enters coastal waters. It 

 is, however, widespread in the tropical Pacific. 

 It was taken in small quantities by the Japanese 

 mothership expeditions near the Caroline Islands 

 in 1951 and 1952 (Ego and Otsu, 1952), and 20 

 specimens were taken during the POFI longline 

 fishing, as indicated in figure 24. Some of the 

 POFI specimens were taken many hundreds of 

 miles from the nearest land. 

 Spawning 



Spawning sailfish were taken on July 10 and 12 

 off Hainan Island, according to Nakamura (1940), 

 along with several juveniles of less than 10 mm. 

 He also reported that a spawning female caught 

 on the hook was followed by a companion fish, 

 presumably a male. He (1949) noted that they 

 spawn in Formosan waters from April to August. 

 We can add nothing to the information on spawn- 

 ing because none of the POFI specimens examined 

 had ripening gonads. 



' Not Included In the current list of specimens In the museum. 



