AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE BIOLOGY OF PACIFIC TUNAS 



By Bell M. Shimada, Fishery Research Biologist 



Studies were begun in 1948 by the Pacific 

 Oceanic Fishery Investigations of the U. S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service to gather fundamental data 

 on the life histories, ecologj', and behavior of the 

 various species of Pacific tunas. Early in the 

 planning of the research program conducted from 

 the Hawaiian Islands, it was recognized that re- 

 view ajid systematic compilation of the literature 

 on these subjects were essential to the effective 

 guidance of the projected research. The principal 

 reference work available was the bibliography of 

 the tunas prepared some '20 years ago by Genevieve 

 Corwin (see Corwin 1930, in the Bibliogi-aphy, 

 p. 5). To meet the needs of the workers in the 

 Investigations, and to assist tuna researchers in 

 general, the preparation of this bibliography was 

 undertaken. 



The bibliography deals chiefly with the black 

 skipjacks or little tunnies {Euthynnua aUefteratufi, 

 E. Uneatus, and E. yaito) , the oceanic or common 

 skipjack {Katsuwonus pelamis), the albacore 

 {Thvnmbs genno), the bluefin or black tunas 

 {ThimnuK viaccoyi^ T. oiicntalis, and T. tJiyn- 

 nus), the big-eyed tunas (Parathunnus meiachi 

 and P. ,siii), the yellowfin tuna {Neothunnus 

 jnacroptei'us), and the frigate mackerels of the 

 genus Auxis. Synonymous and related species 

 reported from the Pacific Ocean are included. 

 Waters contiguous to the Indo-Australian Archi- 

 pelago have been considei-ed as a part of the Pa- 

 cific Ocean proper, inasmuch as many of the 

 important studies of tuna sjjecies occurring in the 

 Pacific Ocean were based on data gathered in that 

 region. 



In the review of the literature, some preliminary 

 work was done at Stanford University, Palo Alto, 

 and at the California Academy of Sciences, San 

 Francisco, California. The libraries of the Beniice 

 Pauahi Bishop Museum, the University of Hawaii, 

 and the Territoi-ial Board of Agriculture and For- 

 estry in Honolulu, and private collections of staff 

 members of the Investigations were particularly 



productive of material. The Japanese references 

 were gathered by a reconnaissance team in Japan 

 from November 1948 to July 1949 investigating 

 the results of Japanese tuna research. Search of 

 private and public libraries in and about Tokyo 

 supplied much material that has not hitherto been 

 generally available outside Japan. Some refer- 

 ences found in Corwin's bibliography could not be 

 examined at first hand: these are included here, 

 as given hy Corwin, with a notation to show their 

 source. 



The general style used by Corwin has been fol- 

 lowed in cataloging and annotating the material. 

 The arrangement of the references is by authors 

 listed alphabetically. Entry is made only under 

 the senior author's name if there is more than one 

 author; the abbreviation "et al." is used with the 

 senior author's name to show collaboration of more 

 than three authors. Each authors works are 

 listed chronologically by year of publication, and 

 those published in the same year are given in 

 alphabetical sequence. Generally, pagination is 

 given only for the parts of the publication falling 

 within the scope of the bibliography. 



Appropriate notations in the bibliography dis- 

 tinguish those papers published only in Japanese, 

 those published in Japan but written in English, 

 and those jjublished in Japanese with an English 

 abstract. Translations were made of Japanese 

 titles when English equivalents were not given. 



Brief annotations of the publications are in- 

 cluded except for those that could not be consulted 

 and for those whose titles give a clear indication 

 of the contents. The .scientific nomenclature used 

 by each author is followed in the annotations; 

 appropriate cross references to synonymous names 

 regarded as having priority appear in the Index. 

 Where both vernacular and scientific names of the 

 tuna were given, the scientific nomenclature is 

 retained. 



The preparation of the Index presented consid- 

 erable difficulty owing to the confused state of the 



