1.22 Taxonomic status 



A specimen of frigate tuna, collected by Commerson 

 off New Guinea in 1768, was first described by Lacepede 

 in 1802 as Scomber thazard. In 1810, Risso and Rafines- 

 que, working independently, named the Mediterranean 

 form Scomber rochei and Scomber bisus, respectively. 

 Gill (1862) subsequently designated rochei as the type- 

 species ioiAuxis Cuvier. Systematists generally followed 

 Giinther (1860) and Jordan and Gilbert (1882) in using 

 Risso's rochei instead of Rafinesque's bisus, but no one 

 has indicated which name was described first. Further- 

 more, the International Commission of Zoological 

 Nomenclature has never ruled as to which name, rochei 

 or bisus, is valid (Fitch and Roedel 1963). 



Over the years, other names appeared in the literature. 

 These include Thynnus rocheanus Risso, 1826 (Mediter- 

 ranean), A. vulgaris Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1831 

 (Mediterranean), A. taso Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1831 

 (New Guinea), A. tapeinosoma Bleeker, 1854 (Japan), 

 and A. thynnoides Bleeker, 1855 (Temate). In 1915, 

 Kishinouye described two additional names. The species 

 he named hira had a short corselet which ended slightly 

 posterior to the pectoral fin. The other he named maru 

 had a long corselet which extended to the anal fin. Kishi- 

 nouye stated that the maru is probably the same species 

 as thazard, but could not say whether thazard corre- 

 sponded to hira or maru. Furthermore, he believed that 

 Bleeker's (1854) tapeinosoma could be maru, but the 

 figure and description of this species were unclear and he 

 was unable to make a positive identification. Therefore, 

 Kishinouye described them as new species, hira and 

 maru. 



Fraser-Brunner (1950) disagreed with Kishinouye and 

 recognized only a single, worldwide species, thazard, but 

 others, such as Wade (1949), Cadenat (1950), and Jones 

 (1958), recognized two species of Auxis. Wade (1949) 

 used Bleeker's name tapeinosoma for a long-corseletted 

 pacific form. Matsumoto (1959, 1960a), on the other 

 hand, finding the nomenclature of the long-corseletted 

 form confused, resurrected the name thynnoides. He 

 argued that tapeinosoma of Wade (1949) and Herre and 

 Herald (1951) appeared to be a misnomer because it is 

 actually a short-corseletted form. Furthermore, Matsu- 

 moto regarded hira and maru of Kishinouye and tape- 

 inosoma of Bleeker as synonyms of the short-corseletted, 

 worldwide thazard. 



1.23 Subspecies 

 None. 



1.24 The standard common names, vernacular 

 names 



The standard common names and vernacular names of 

 A. thazard were abstracted from the lists published in 

 Fiedler (1945), Rosa (1950), Collingnon (1960— see foot- 

 note 2), FAO (1960, 1976), Idyll and de Sylva (1963), 

 Uchida (1963), Williams (1963), Instituto del mar del 



Peru (1971^), Miyake and Hayasi (1972), Klawe (1977), 

 and Roberts et al. (1977). 



Country 



Algeria 



Common and vernacular names 



Auxide, Scunno, Bisu, Melva, Mel- 



Ivory Coast 

 Japan 



Auxis sp. 

 A. thazard 

 A. hira 



Korea 



Madeira 

 Malta Island 



Mexico 



Scurmo, Tombarello, Tamburella, 

 Tambarella, Sgionfetta, Tumbarel, 

 Bisu, M'pisu, Pisantuni, Mazzita, 

 Sangulu, Culariau, Sgamiru, Tun- 

 nacchiu, Biso 

 Boku-boku, Poku-poku, Bongu 



Sodagatsuwo 



Hirasoda, Hirasodakatusuo, Hirame- 

 jika, Obosogatsuwo, Shibuwa, Soma, 

 Suma, Oboso (Hirasohda, Hiraga- 

 tsuo, and Hiramedika are varia- 

 tions in spelling of some of the above 

 names) 



Mul-chi-da-rae, Mul-chi, Mu-tae-da- 

 raeng, Mog-man-dung-i 



Chapouto 



Tombrell, Mazzita, Tombitombi, 

 Zgamirru 



Bonito 



'Instituto del Mar del Peru. 1971. Report of the "Instituto del mer 

 del Peru" and other institutes of fishery investigations from South 

 America for the fourth session of the FAO panel of experts for the facili- 

 tation of tuna research. La JoUa, Calif., 8-13 November 1971, 

 FIR:EPFTR/71/lnf. 12. 26 p. (Miraeogr.) 



