Spec. Med-36: UMML 11056, 766 mm, juvenile, 

 vicinity of Malta, between Oct. 1 and 13, 1961, Joe 

 Barbara. 



In addition, Walter A. Starck, II, has measured and 

 photographed three mounted specimens at the Museo 

 Civico de Storia Naturale di Genova in September 

 1960, through the courtesy of Enrico Tortonese. All 

 represent T. belone, however, and were so identified 

 by Tortonese (1940:175). 



Museo Civico Storia Naturale, 18388, 1,773 mm, 

 Laigueglia, West Riviera, Bay of Genoa, Italy, May 

 18, 1924. 



Museo Civico Storia Naturale, uncat., 1,522 mm, 

 no data. 



Museo Civico Storia Naturale, uncat., 1,605 mm, 

 no data. 



1.22 Taxonomic status 



This species is clearly distinguishable from all other 

 species of Tetrapturus in the juvenile and adult stage, 

 based upon the research of Robins and de Sylva 

 (1963). Meristic and morphometric data given in that 

 paper clearly permit separation from all other species. 

 Tetrapturus georgei Lowe is discussed by Robins 

 (1974a), and is separable from T. belone based on 

 characters discussed by Robins. 



1.23 Subspecies 



No subspecies are recognized. 



1.24 Standard common names and verna- 

 cular names 



In English-speaking countries this species is fre- 

 quently referred to as the Mediterranean spearfish 

 (Robins and de Sylva, 1963:89). In Italy and Monaco 

 it is known as aguglia imperiale, as aguglia pelerana 

 in Sicily, pastardella in Malta, iglan and iglokljun in 

 Yugoslavia, auggia imbriale in Algeria, bu mkhiat in 

 Morocco, and marlin in Spain. The Japanese have 

 given the common name chichukai-furai, which they 

 distinguish from all other istiophorids. Bini (1968:60, 

 62) gives regional variation of Italian spelling and 

 pronunciation as the following: agugghia 'mpiriali 

 (Messina and Catania, Sicily); aguggha imperiale, 

 ugghia 'mpiriali (Reggio de Calabria and Crotone); 

 uguglia imperiali (Manfredonia); auglia 'mperiale 

 (Naples); acura 'mperiale (Gallipoli). 



1.3 Morphology 



The external morphology of the species is described 

 by Rafinesque (1810) and Robins and de Sylva 

 (1963:92-95), and given earlier in the present paper 

 under Diagnosis. Valenciennes (1831:280-286, pis. 

 227-228) supplied detailed information on the gross 

 morphology and skeletal structure. Characterization 



of the larval and juvenile stages is discussed herein 

 under the sections on "Reproduction" (3.1). 



2 DISTRIBUTION 

 2.1 Total Area 



The Mediterranean spearfish, T. belone, is known 

 only from the Mediterranean Sea including the 

 Ligurian, Adriatic, and Ionian seas (Robins and de 

 Sylva, 1963:96-97). It is the most common istiophorid 

 in the central basin around Italy. 



Tetrapturus belone is recorded with reasonable 

 certainty from Sicily (Rafinesque, 1810:54-55, Fig. 1), 

 Messina (Cocco, 1884:373; Sparta, 1953, 1961, Cava- 

 liere, 1962), the Gulf of Naples (Padoa, 1956: 513-516), 

 Palermo (Gigliogli, 1880), Taranto (Costa, 1850:10; 

 Canestrini, 1872:12), Venice (Ninni, 1912:271), the 

 Ligurian Sea (Parona, 1898:368; Tortonese and Trotti, 

 1949:134), Malta (Gulia, 1861, 1871), Mallorca (Bar- 

 celo y Combis, 1868:388), the Adriatic (Trois, 1880: 

 643-645), and Split, Yugoslavia (Kolombatvic, 1886; 

 Soljan, 1948:376, 389). 



Although Robins and de Sylva (1963:96) indicated 

 that it has not been taken from the eastern Mediterra- 

 nean, Ben-Tuvia (1953) reported upon a juvenile 

 billfish (356 mm) from off Haifa, Israel, which he 

 identified as Istiophorus gladius (Broussonnett). The 

 present writer subsequently examined the specimen 

 and identified it as the young of T. belone, which was 

 later reported by Ben-Tuvia (1966:271-272). A second 

 juvenile specimen (597 mm SL) was collected by the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's vessel RV 

 Chain on 2 October 1966. This specimen (de Sylva and 

 Ueyanagi) 3 was taken by night light and dip net off 

 Lebanon, lat. 34°20.5'N, long. 34°41.0'E, and was one 

 of two reported seen under the light (F. J. Mather III, 

 Southeast Fisheries Center, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA, Miami, FL 33149, pers. 

 commun.) However, no adults have been reported 

 east of the Ionian Sea. Because of the difficulty in 

 identification of juvenile and adult billfish, it is possi- 

 ble that the species is more widely distributed in the 

 Mediterranean than has been reported in the 

 literature and that spearfish may have been identified 

 by sport and commercial fishermen as white marlin, 

 Tetrapturus albidus Poey, which occur in the western 

 and central Mediterranean ( Rodriguez -Roda and 

 Howard, 1962; de Sylva, 1973). 



References to T. belone outside of the Mediterra- 

 nean Sea cannot be verified (Robins and de Sylva, 

 1963:96-97) and are probably based upon T. albidus 

 Poey or T. georgei Lowe. For a discussion of the latter, 



'de Sylva, D. P., and S. Ueyanagi. Systematics, development, 

 and distribution of the Atlantic species of the family 

 Istiophoridae. Manuscript in preparation. Rosenstiel School of 

 Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 

 33149. 



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