ROGERS ET AL.: ANATOMICAL TRAUMA TO SPONGE-CORAL REEF FISHES 



Table 1 .—Numbers and percentage frequencies (in parentheses; a = 1 %) of alimentary tract displacements in sponge-coral reef fishes 

 collected by trawling (T) and angling (A) in 37 m depth. Dashes (— ) indicate no data. Within cloacal protrusions, H = herniations, I = 

 intussusceptions, U = unclassified, and TC = total cloacal. N = number of specimens examined. 



tomtate, Haemulon aurolineatum; scup 5 , Stenoto- 

 mus chrysops; whitebone porgies, Calamus leucos- 

 teur; red porgies, Pagrus pagrus; and vermilion 

 snappers, Rhomboplites aurorubens. 



Angling-caught black sea bass had high frequen- 

 cies of oral eversion. Angling-caught red porgies and 

 vermilion snappers exhibited few or no protrusions. 

 Angling data for all other species are too sparse to 

 estimate protrusion frequencies. 



There was a significant lack of homogeneity in the 

 frequencies of oral eversions between species within 

 trawl (x 2 = 695, df = 13, P « 0.01) and angling- 

 caught (x 2 = 14.2, df = 6, P < 0.05) samples. The 

 trawling value resulted from high frequencies for 

 red snapper, Mycteroperca groupers, and short 

 bigeye; these three categories accounted for 95% 



5 The taxonomic status of this species is unclear (B. Roumillat, 

 South Carolina Marine Resources Research Institute, POB 12559, 

 Charleston, SC, 29412 pers. commun.) and is properly listed as scup 

 (Stenotomus chrysops (Robins et al. 1980; SAFMC 1983a, b)) 

 although several authors have recently used the nomen southern 

 porgy (S. aculeatus (Miller and Richards 1980; Wenner 1983; 

 Sedberry and Van Dolah 1984)). Still others have classified South 

 Atlantic-caught Stenotomus as longspine porgy (S. caprinus 

 (Chester et al. 1984)). 



of the x 2 statistic. Among angling-caught fishes, a 

 high value for black sea bass and low values for red 

 porgy and vermilion snapper accounted for 91% of 

 the x 2 statistic. 



The high frequencies of cloacal protrusions in 

 trawl-caught planehead filefish, orange filefish, and 

 blue angelfish (21-38%) and low values in all other 

 species (<7%) produced a highly significant depar- 

 ture from homogeneity (x 2 = 470, df = 13, P « 

 0.001). Seven of the 15 fish species did not display 

 the symptom (Table 1). Only one of the angling- 

 caught specimens (a vermilion snapper) experienced 

 cloacal protrusion. Of those cloacal protrusions 

 classified for blue angelfish and the two filefish 

 species, all herniations (Table 1) had fecal material 

 in the protruded gut portion. 



Only planehead filefish experienced branchial pro- 

 trusions. Tomtate, vermilion snapper, scup, red 

 porgy, and whitebone porgy were notably free of 

 all forms of alimentary tract displacement. 



Swim-bladder rupture was noted for all fish 

 species. Tissue emphysema was detected only in 

 black sea bass. Of the 34 black sea bass exam- 

 ined in detail for internal trauma, 33 (97%) 



699 



