DISTRIBUTION AND GENERAL NOTES ON THE SPECIES 351 



jaws of Esox and those of Thyrsites ; barracouta relating to a similar resemblance between the marine 

 Sphyraenidae and Thyrsites; and sierra presumably referring to the rows of spiny finlets between 

 the posterior median fins and the caudal of Thyrsites. 



The first objection to widespread use of these names is already clear: they are applied to other 

 fishes elsewhere, many of which bear no close relationship to Thyrsites. But there are two other equally 

 important objections. First, some of the other fishes showing such overlapping of common names 

 may inhabit the same areas as Thyrsites; this is especially true of Australian seas. Secondly, these 

 other fish have themselves been given a further range of vernacular names, which again overlap, and 

 increase the possibility of confusion twice confounded with yet other fishes (or groups of fish). 



In Natal ' snoek ' refers to Scomberomorm commersoni (Cuvier and Valenciennes) (Scombridae : 

 Gilchrist, 1914, p. 118) which is the 'narrow-barred spanish-mackerel' of Australia, and is also known 

 as 'kingfish', 'king-mackerel' and even (in western Australia) as 'albacore' (Munro, 1943, p- 74). 

 In Puerto Rico (West Indies) ' snook ' refers to Centropomus parallelus Poey, the ' robalo ' (Jarvis, 

 1932, p. 4). The Centropomidae are a percoid family closely allied to the Serranidae. In Australia, 

 on the other hand, 'snook' sometimes refers to the 'short-finned pike', Sphyraena novaehoUatidiae 

 Giinther, which a European or an American would call a 'true' barracuda (Waite, 1921, p. 85). 



Barracuda or ' barracouta ' refer to Sphyraenidae in Europe, the West Indies, North America and 

 South Africa, and it was to this group of fishes that the name was first applied. But this group is also 

 represented in Australia and New Zealand and other haunts of Thyrsites, where they are known as 

 'pikes' or 'sea-pikes', with or without such specific qualifications as 'short-finned' { = Sphyraena 

 novaehoUatidiae Giinther (Waite, 1899, p. 132)), and also, more rarely, as 'snook'. According to 

 Evermann and Radcliffe (1917, p. 51) Sphyraena idiastes Heller and Snodgrass is known as 'aguja' 

 (Spanish, lit. a needle or bodkin) in Peru. This name is applied to a very wide variety of slender fishes, 

 including 'pipe-fishes', in various parts of the world. 



The original ichthyological connotation of 'sierra' in Spain seems to have been Pristis sp., a 'saw- 

 fish', one of the elasmobranchs ! The name is also applied to various Scomberomorns spp. ('king-' or 

 ' Spanish-mackerels', Scombridae) in Spanish-speaking parts of the Americas north of the range of 

 Thyrsites. 



Let us consider only two examples of the secondary complications that can arise among the common 

 names applied to fishes which share the main vernacular appellations of Thyrsites : 



The 'king-' or 'spanish-mackerels', Scomberomorus spp., Scombridae, are often referred to as 

 ' kingfish '. This name is also extensively used for certain Gempylidae other than Thyrsites, notably for 

 Jordanidia (Rexea) solandri (Cuvier and Valenciennes) in Tasmania and New Zealand. This fish is in 

 its turn sometimes called 'hake' in New Zealand, even though there is a 'true' hake, Merhiccius 

 australis (Hutton), on the spot. ' Kingfish ' is also (rarely) applied to the ' king- whiting ' {Menticirrhus 

 spp., Sciaenidae) in parts of the United States. 



'Pike' is applied in the Falkland Islands to Champsocephalus esox (Chaenichthyidae, Notothenii- 

 formes), and in Australia and New Zealand to the Sphyraenidae. In Australia also ' long-finned pike' 

 refers to Dinolestes leivini Griffith (Waite, 192 1, p. 99). This is one of the Apogonidae, a family equally 

 remote from the Sphyraenidae and the Gempylidae. 



SCOMBRIDAE 



Gasterochisma melampus Richardson. Norman (1937, p. 97) has shown that although we did not 

 obtain any specimens of this interesting oceanic species during the trawling surveys, there is evidence 

 of three specimens reaching the Falkland Islands. Some portions of a damaged skeleton from West 

 Point Island were secured by Dr J. E. Hamilton. Norman adds an interesting note recording his 



D XXIII 



