370 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Stromateus probably spawns early in summer, but we do not yet know how prolonged the spawning 

 season may be. It seems clear, however, that the larger, older fish lead in the migratory movements, 

 and spawn earlier than any mature individuals among the smaller ones. 



The summer shoreward movement of the spotted pomfret finds a close parallel in the behaviour 

 of the most valuable of its northern relatives, Poronotus triacanthus (Peck), off the southern New 

 England, middle Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay States of America. With Stromateus the superimposition 

 of a marked meridional trend of movement is probably occasioned by the necessity for maintaining a 

 species with a prolonged pelagic post-larval phase within its ecological norm (cf. E. S. Russell, 1937, 

 p. 321) and directly correlated with the current system of our area (Fig. 4).^ Any similar tendency in 

 Poronotus will be less obvious because of the more complex hydrological conditions of its habitat. 

 Only the most northern parts of its range show resemblance to conditions off Patagonia. The main 

 locus of Poronotus is influenced by the warm gulf-stream flowing towards higher latitudes, which is 

 the converse of the Patagonian conditions. Moreover, the coastline in the habitat of Poronotus runs 

 more east and west than the coasts frequented by Stromateus, and therefore any meridional component 

 of movement will be acting more nearly in the same direction as that of the primary on- and offshore 

 movements of Poronotus. 



Stromateus maculatus has an extensive distribution up the west coast of South America as well as 

 off eastern Patagonia, and Norman (1937, p. 1 19) has pointed out that large series of specimens from 

 the more distant localities might reveal the existence of two or more races or subspecies. He also 

 stated that there is some doubt as to the specific identity of the specimens reported as far north as 

 Peru by Valenciennes. However, the narrower Peru coastal current brings relatively temperate con- 

 ditions very much farther north up the west coast, than does the Falkland current off the south-east 

 coast of South America; and since these Peruvian specimens were recorded as most abundant in the 

 Lima market in winter, they might have resulted from seasonal meridional movement of the most 

 northerly of the west coast stocks, in view of the known behaviour of the species elsewhere. It is well 

 known that the extreme northward extent of the Peru coastal current leads to a more northerly dis- 

 tribution of other temperate types, including such fish as hake {Merlucchis gayi), than is to be found 

 anywhere else south of the equator. 



In order fully to appreciate the potential value of the spotted pomfret in our area, it is instructive 

 to consider the Stromateidae already exploited elsewhere. The family has been much subject to 

 taxonomic changes, and further systematic revision — impossible without further widespread col- 

 lecting — is still needed. It is hoped that Table 37 gives sufficient synonymy to leave no doubt of 

 the identity of the species referred to. There remains the bewildering tangle of common names, many 

 raising most interesting etymological problems, which I give with their localities in the second column. 

 To quote individual authorities for all these would take up too much space. The object of the table 

 is to give some idea of the range and relative importance of the Stromateidae already exploited, in 

 compact form, before proceeding to some further consideration of their common names. 



The etymology of the name ' pampano ' or ' pompano ' is extremely interesting. Its literal meaning 

 in Spanish is 'a young vine branch or tendril', but the ichthyological connotation is very old, and 

 may possibly have first applied to Sparus salpa. Of the ultimate origin of the word from the root 

 'pomum', a fruit, there can be little doubt. The Dutch word ' pampelmoes ', applied to Stromateus 

 fiatola in South Africa, derives from the French ' pampelmousse ', the grape-fruit or shaddock (compare 

 'pomelo' and 'pompoleon', names occasionally applied to this fruit formerly in England). Perhaps 

 the likeness of a deeply compressed fish seen in profile to a grape-fruit viewed in the same way accounts 



^ Such very few Stromateus juv. as we captured were found only in the north. 



