AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY 



molly, from Mollienesia) as common names. — 

 Once adopted such names should be main- 

 tained even if the generic name is changed. 

 These vernaculars should be written in 

 Roman and without capitalization. Brevity 

 and euphony are of especial importance for 

 names of this type, which will probably be 

 adopted most often for aquarium fishes or 

 other smaller and little-known kinds that do 

 not already have a well-established vernacu- 

 lar nomenclature. 



18. The duplication of common names for 

 fishes and other organisms should be avoided if 

 possible, but names in wide general use need 

 not be rejected on this basis alone. — The name 

 dolphin is commonly applied to certain 

 cetaceans and also to Coryphaena hippurus. 

 Similarly, buffalo is employed for various 

 artiodactyls and for suckers of the genus 

 Ictiobus. On the basis of prevailing use these 

 names are admissible as fish names. 



19. Names that appear on official lists of 

 names of fishes prepared by other agencies 

 shall be preferred. 



Plan of List 



The list is presented as a natural or phy- 

 letic sequence of families of fishes, with the 

 species of each family alphabetized to ge- 

 neric and specific names. In order to facili- 

 tate use the three classes of recent fishes 

 (Agnatha — jawless fishes, Chondrichthyes — 

 cartilaginous fishes, and Osteichthyes — bony 

 fishes) and the orders are indicated. For the 

 latter, the ordinal names of the Goodrich 

 system (formes endings) are given first, fol- 

 lowed, in parentheses, by equivalent names 

 employed by Regan, Jordan, Romer or 

 others. Both common and technical names 

 of families (idae endings) are given. Within 

 families the sequence is alphabetical to scien- 

 tific name; the occasional disadvantage of 

 separating closely related forms within a 

 family is regarded as more than offset by 

 the greater ease in use. 



An innovation in this edition is the inclu- 

 sion of authorities for scientific names. These 

 are commonly needed by fishery workers, 

 who may not have ready access to the 

 necessary references. In any event their 

 appearance here in a single cover is a great 

 convenience. Care has been taken to prevent 

 errors in author's names; usage here reflects 

 current interpretation of the International 

 Rules on Zoological Nomenclature. In line 

 with those rules, the author's name(s) fol- 

 lows the specific name directly and without 



punctuation if the species, when originally 

 described, was assigned to the same genus 

 in which it appears here; if the species was 

 described in another genus, the author's 

 name(s) appears in parentheses. For exam- 

 ple, the brook trout was originally named 

 Salmo fontinalis bj'' Mitchill ; it appears here 

 as Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill). 



In preparation of the list hundreds of de- 

 cisions had to be made that involved inter- 

 pretation of rules of nomenclature, system- 

 atic status and limits of species, genera, and 

 families, occurrence within the prescribed 

 region, and other problems. Four times in 

 six years it has been possible for a majority 

 of the committee members to gather around 

 a table and attack these problems together. 

 The resultant interchange of ideas and in- 

 formation, extended by circulation of dozens 

 of work lists, has made possible striking con- 

 cordance on what started as areas of dis- 

 agreement. There remain, to be sure, many 

 differences of opinion, but there has been a 

 broadened area of understanding and a 

 spirit of good humor and willingness to 

 compromise difficulties. Decisions have been 

 made by majority opinion of the Committee. 

 Thus, no committee member subscribes to 

 all decisions reached. In many places, in- 

 formation available to the Committee ex- 

 ceeded that in the current literature. In 

 general it has been our policy to withhold 

 making such changes here, although we have 

 made some considered exceptions, especially 

 when the new data will appear shortly. 



Indices 



The main list. Part I, appears on pages 6 

 to 50; there follow indices, Part II, to com- 

 mon names (pages 51 to 75) and. Part III, 

 to scientific names (pages 76 to 102). The 

 index to common names gives page refer- 

 ences to approved common names of classes, 

 famihes, and species. A single entry is in- 

 cluded for each species; for example, Salmo 

 gairdneri is entered only under "trout, rain- 

 bow." In addition to approved names, the 

 index includes also other names that are in 

 wide use followed by the equivalent ap- 

 proved name. There are a great many 

 vernacular names of American fishes, and 

 extensive search would be necessary to as- 

 semble even a large fraction of them. This 

 the Committee has not attempted to do, but 

 most of the more widely used names are 

 included. 



The index to scientific names gives page 

 references to the names here entered for 



