Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 15 



deeply for the time being, instead of moving down the slope." If driven out of their holes, 

 as when a shovel is thrust into the sand close by, they shoot upward into the water and 

 swim vigorously for a brief period with either the ventral or dorsal side uppermost, but 

 always .with the anterior end foremost. However, they soon sink to the bottom again. 

 "Generally as soon as they touched the sand, they would half-arch their bodies and almost 

 instantaneously disappear from sight . . . after their disappearance, they very rarely 

 entirely emerged"'* but continue buried in an oblique position, ventral side uppermost, 

 either with the opening of the oral hood at the surface of the sand or with the anterior 

 portion of the body protruding. Aquarium observations suggest that they protrude and 

 feed chiefly at night. No specific information is available as to the diet of this species (p. 

 4). B. caribaeum has been recorded from the low tide zone down to a depth as great 

 as 24 fathoms. In Florida, sexually mature males, and females "heavy with eggs,""' have 

 been reported in March; they are to be expected perhaps two months or so later in the 

 Chesapeake Bay region, where pelagic larvae are to be found in July and August. Sexual 

 maturity is attained in the second or third year. 



Range. Atlantic coast of America from Chesapeake Bay to the West Indies. Recorded 

 localities are: several localities in Chesapeake Bay; North Carolina; many localities in 

 Florida, both on the west coast north to Pensacola and on the east coast; the Tortugas; 

 the Snapper Banks; Gulf of Mexico; Bahamas; Porto Rico; Jamaica. It is so common 

 in Florida that one collector reports taking 5,000 of them. 



Synonyms and References: 



Branchiostoma caribaeum^" Sundevall, Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forh., Stockholm, lo, 1853: 12 (in part, specimens 

 from St. Thomas, West Indies) ; Gill, Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish. (1871-1872), 1873: 814 (listed, C. Hat- 

 teras to Fla.) ; Yarrow, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 1877: 218 (Bird Shoal, N. Carolina); Jordan and 

 Gilbert, Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 16, 1883: 3 (Chesapeake Bay to West Indies); Gunther, Rep. Zool. Coll. 

 "Alert," Brit. Mus., 1884: 32 (in part, specimens from St. Thomas, West Indies, characterization, 

 discus.); Garman, in Kingsley, Stand. Nat. Hist., 5, 1885: 64 (Gulf of Mexico); Andrews, Stud. 

 Biol. Johns Hopk. Univ., 5, 1893: 240 (in part, specimens from Florida, Gulf of Mexico and West 

 Indies, myotome formula); Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 47 (l), 1896: 3 (in part, 

 but B. flatae also included);'' Evermann and Kendall, Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish. (1899), 1900: 48 

 (Snapper Banks, Gulf of Mexico, and Tampa, Florida) ; Evermann and Marsh, Bull. U.S. Fish Comm., 

 20 (l), 1902: 59 (in part, Porto Rico, but not the ill., which probably is B. flatae because of shape of 

 caudal); Tattersall, Trans. Lpool. Biol. Soc, 77, 1903: 271, 280 (comp. with lanceolatum) ; 

 Lonnberg, Bronn's Klassen., 6, Abt. I, Buch 1, 1904: 339 (descr., distrib.) ; Barbour, Bull. Mus. comp. 

 Zool. Harv., 46, 1905: 1 10 (in part, but bermuiae and flatae also incl. because of distrib.) ; Fowler, Proc. 

 Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., ^g, 1908: 461 (Vieques Island, Porto Rico) ; Smith, N. C. Geol. econ. Surv., Fishes, 

 2, 1907: 27 (N. Carolina, but not the ill., which appears to be of B. flatae because of shape of caudal) ; 

 Ribeiro, Arch. Mus. nac. Rio de J., 14, 1907: 146, 199 (in part, but B. flatae probably included also) ; 

 Fowler, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash., jj, 1920: 143, footnote (mentioned); Hubbs, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. 



27. For an interesting account of their occurrence in Florida, and of methods of collecting them, see Wells (Science, 

 N.S. 64, 1926: 187). 



28. Rice, Amer. Nat., i^, 1880: 8. 29. Wells, Science, N.S. 64, 1926: 188. 



30. Sometimes spelled caribbaeum. 



31. The illustration of caribaeum by Jordan and Evermann (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 47 [4], 1900; pi. i, fig. i) 

 appears from the shape of the caudal to have been based on a specimen of B. flatae. 



