22 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



anus, although it is not known how far regeneration of the tail can proceed. The feeding 

 habits are as described for the group in general (p. 4). The time occupied by the passage 

 of food pellets through the digestive tract, as indicated by carmine particles, may be much 

 less than an hour. In Bahaman waters sexually mature specimens have been taken in June 

 and less often in July.** 



Range. Circumtropical, with widely separated centers of distribution, and perhaps 

 with local races; known in the western Atlantic from Bermuda, the Florida Keys, North 

 and South Bimini in the Bahamas, Vieques I., Culebra I. and Humacao, Porto Rico, and 

 off Pernambuco, Brazil. Known also from the Maldive Islands (Indian Ocean), the 

 Philippines, the Louisiade Archipelago southeast of New Guinea, Zanzibar, and perhaps 

 from North Australia. Evidently it is abundant locally in the tropical belt of the western 

 Atlantic in suitable situations, for large numbers have been taken both in the Bahamas and 

 at Castle Harbor, Bermuda. 



Synonyms and References: 



1. Atlantic: 



Asymmetron lucayanum Andrews, Stud. Biol. Lab., Johns Hopk. Univ., 5, 1893: 213, pi. 13, 14, fig. I-25 

 (descr., anat., habits, sensory reactions, Bahamas) ; Kirkaldy, Quart. J. micr. Sci., 57, 1895: 31-9, pi. 34, 

 fig. 3 (descr., Bahamas) ; Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 47 (l), 1896: 4 (descr., Bahamas) ; 

 Evermann and Marsh, Bull. U.S. Fish Comm., 20 (l), 1902: 60 (descr., Porto Rico) ; Tattersall, Trans. 

 Lpool. Biol. Soc, 77, 1903: 291, 297, 302 (descr., discus., distrib.) ; Parker, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. 

 Harv., 46, 1904: 49, pi. I, fig. 2 (myotome formula, number of gonads) ; Mark, Science, N.S. 20, 1904: 

 179 (Bermuda); Bean, in Shattuck, Bahama Islands, Fish., 1905: 296 (Bahamas); Barbour, Bull. Mus. 

 comp. Zool. Harv., 46, 1905: 1 10 (Bahamas and Bermuda) ; Lonnberg, Bronn's Klassen, 6, Abt. i, Buch 

 I, 1905: 244 (descr., Bahamas) ; Bean, Field Mus. Publ. Zool., 7, 1906: 29 (Bermuda) ; Gibson, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. Lond., Zool., (2) 75, 1910: 241, 242 (number of myotomes; Bahamas, Amfhioxides felagicut 

 perhaps the neotenic larva of this species); Hubbs, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., 105, 1922: 16 

 (off Brazil) ; Franz, Jena Z. Naturw., 58, 1922: 377, 426, fig. 30-32 (descr., discus., distrib.) ; Breder, 

 Field Bk. Mar. Fish. Atlant. Coast, 1929: 4 (Bahamas) ; Nichols, Mem. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 10, 1929: 181, 

 fig. 2 (descr., Bahamas, Porto Rico) ; Goldschmidt, Biol. Bull. Wood's Hole, 64, 1933: 231, fig. I A, B 

 (relation to Amfhioxides larvae, Bermuda) ; Beebe and Tee-Van, Field Bk. Shore Fish. Bermuda, 1933: 

 21 (descr., distrib., Bermuda); Goodrich, Quart. J. micr. Sci., 75, 1933: 723 (nephridia; Bermuda); 

 Pratt, Manual Common Invert. Anim., 1935: 757 (no. of myotomes and gonads) ; Andrews, Bigelow and 

 Morgan, Sci. Mon., 61 (5), 1945: 341, 343 (habits, ill., Bimini, Bahamas). 



Branchiostoma lucayanum Willey, Amphioxus and Ancestr. of Vert., 1894: 41 (Bahamas). 



Asymmetron macricaudatum Parker, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 46, 1904: 47, pi. 2, fig. 7 (descr., discus.. 

 Salt Key, Florida) ; Pratt, Manual Common Invert. Anim., 1935: 757 (no. of myotomes and gonads). 



Efigonichthys leucayanum Fowler, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., sg, 1907: 461 (Bermuda). 



2. Indo-Pacific: 



Asymmetron caudatum Willey, Quart. J. micr. Sci., 59, 1896: 219, pi. 13, fig. 1-4 (descr., ill. of head and 

 tails of male and female; size; Louisiade Archipel.) ; Quart. J. micr. Sci., 44, 1901: 271 {caudatum a 

 subspecies of lucayanum) ; Willey's Zool. Res., 6, 1902: 725 (ill., caudatum a subspecies of lucayanum) ; 

 Hubbs, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., 105, 1922: 16 (refs.) ; Lonnberg, Bronn's Klassen, 6, Abt. I, 

 Buch 1, 1905: 244 (doubts if distinct from lucayanum) . 



Asymmetron lucayanum Forster-Cooper, in Gardiner, Fauna Geogr., Maldive Laccadive Archip., /, 1 903: 



44. The foregoing account is based on observations by Andrews, 1893. 



