A REVIEW OF THE GENUS OPHIODERMA M. k T. 



By 



Fred C. Ziesenhenne 

 Allan Hancock Foundation 



The numerous variations in color of the littoral species of Ophioderma 

 known from the Pacific coast of tropical America have presented a 

 problem to the taxonomists for many years, chiefly because so few 

 individuals of each species were known. During the years 1933 to 1954 

 the Velero Expeditions have collected a large number of specimens of 

 Ophioderma from the western coasts of tropical America and the ofiE- 

 lying Pacific islands. In addition a number of Atlantic specimens were 

 collected in 1939 from the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and 

 various islands, especially Tobago. This vast amount of material has 

 given us more knowledge of some of the species, which in many cases 

 had been established on a single specimen. 



It has been the writer's good fortune as a member of the Velero 

 Expeditions to help collect this material and later study it in the Allan 

 Hancock Foundation. In addition he has had the opportunity to study 

 the large collections of Ophioderma in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology and the United States National Museum. The five species he 

 has not been able to examine are indicated in this paper by an asterisk. 



The genus as accepted today includes 21 species. Three have doubt- 

 ful localities, while two others are reported from the eastern Atlantic. 

 The remaining 16 belong only to American waters. One is known from 

 both the Atlantic and Pacific, while 11 are reported from the western 

 Atlantic and 4 from the Pacific. The majority are shallow water forms, 



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