THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 3 



"The Fishes Obtained by the Wilkes Expedition, 1838-1842," by 

 Fowler (1940), who listed 32 species, either definitely or questionably 

 from Peru. The specimens upon which the records are based are in 

 the U. S. National Museum, and those having rather definite locality 

 labels with them have been reexamined and are mentioned in the 

 accounts of the species with which they were identified. 



Several other publications contain references and some descriptions 

 of Peruvian fishes. These are listed in the bibliography, and references 

 to them will be found in appropriate places in the text. 



Among the publications not of a taxonomic nature on the fishes of 

 Peru is the one by the Mission from the Fish and Wildlife Service to 

 Peru in 1941, mentioned many times in the text as the "report of the 

 Mission." This report is entitled "La Pesca y las Industrias Pesqueras 

 en el Peru con Recomendaciones para su Futuro Desarrollo." Its 

 authors are R, H. Fiedler, N. D. Jarvis, and M. J. Lobell, the members 

 of the Mission, and it was published in 1943 (see bibliography). 

 This report contains a discussion of the fisheries and their operation; 

 statistics for the local fisheries; an account of the investigation con- 

 ducted in 1941 ; recommendations for the development of the industry 

 and for Government control of the fisheries; and a bibliography 

 including especially publications of an economic nature. Although 

 this report is mentioned again and again, and sometimes quoted, 

 the reader is referred to it for further information as to the commercial 

 importance of the food fishes of Peru. 



A publication entitled "The Fisheries and Guano Industry of Peru," 

 by E. E. Coker (see bibliography), also deals extensively with the 

 fisheries. This paper, like the one cited in the preceding paragraph, 

 contains a discussion of the temperature of the shore waters of Peru, 

 which generally seem to be lower along most of the coast than on 

 coasts elsewhere in the same latitude. The reason or reasons for 

 the low temperature, which apparently prevails only near shore, 

 have been discussed also by several other investigators, as stated 

 elsewhere, but complete agreement is lacking. 



SCOPE OF THE CATALOG 



The catalog is limited to the shore fishes of Peru. Nevertheless, a 

 few species generally classed as deep-sea fishes are included because 

 they were taken at the surface and rather near the shore. Also diag- 

 nostic characters have been supplied for a few species of widely dis- 

 tributed fishes, such as the sailfish and marlin, of which no specimens 

 from Peru were at hand and which have not been definitely recorded 

 from Peru, though they undoubtedly occur there at times. 



SPECIMENS EXAMINED 



Through the courtesy of its ofiicials the very extensive ichthyo- 

 logical collections of the U. S. National Museum have been available 



