JAPANESE SHORE FISHES C^OLLECTED B^' THE UNITED 

 STATES BUREAU OF FISHERIES STEAMER "ALBA- 

 TROSS" EXPEDITION OF 1906. 



By John Otterbein Snyder, 



Of Stanford University, California. 



This report deals mainly with the collections made by members* 

 of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross expedition of 

 1906, who were detached from the ship and intrusted with a study of 

 the shore fishes of Japan. It was intended that the shore i)arty 

 should direct its attention to the species inhabiting the tide pools 

 and shallow water immediately offshore, and accordingly collecting 

 stations were occupied where the coast was of such a nature that 

 large areas were exposed at low tides, and where markets of con- 

 siderable size were within reach. These stations included Hakodate, 

 Mororan, and Otaru in Hokkaido, Same, j:\ikawa, Misald, and Shimizu 

 on the eastern coast of Hondo, and Kagoshima, Akune, and Tane- 

 gasliima near the southern end of Kiusiu. A trip was also made to 

 Okinawa, one of the Riu Eau Islands, the results of which appear in a 

 separate report.^ 



Tliere are remarkabh' rich collecting grounds near Mororan, Misaki, 

 and Tanegasliima, where one finds small, quiet bays with sandy or 

 muddy bottoms and gently sloping beaches, together wdth broad 

 expanses of open coast where the waves have worn innumerable pot- 

 holes and large pools in the surface of the soft rocks. Small fishes 

 often fairly swarm in these pools ^ and at low tide may be seen quietly 

 swimming about or darting here and there among the broken rocks, 

 corals, or masses of algse. A good representation of the fish fauna 

 of Japan may be secured at these places, the fishes of Mororan con- 



« The shore work was mainly done by the writer and Mr. Michataro Sindo, a student of Stanford I'niver- 

 versity, who is an enthusiastic collector and a good naturalist. Profs. S. Nozawa, S. Saito, and K. Otakl 

 were each a volunteer member of the party for a time, and rendered valuable assistance. 



« Proc. U. S. Nat. Mu3., vol. 42, p. 487. 



' For example, a pool near Mi.saki, roughly measuring 19 feet in circumference and 3 feet at itsdcepest part, 

 contained 12.3 specimens representing 16 diiTerent species. The pools in the \1cinity of Misaki appear to 

 support an unusually large number of species, and in addition to a rich native fauna there are many strag- 

 glers from the tropics, the young of various Chxlodonts, Pomacentridn, Tcuthids, and others which appear 

 to have drifted northward in the Kurosiwo far beyond a point where the species are able to maintain 

 themselves. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 42— No. 1909. 



399 



