Synopsis of Biological Data on the Mediterranean Spearfish, 



Tetrapturus belone Rafinesque 1 



DONALD P. de SYLVA 2 



1 IDENTITY 



1.1 Nomenclature 



1.11 Valid name 



The valid scientific name of this taxon is Tetrap- 

 turus belone Rafinesque, 1810. The synonymy of this 

 species has been recently treated by de Sylva (1973) 

 and is reproduced here with slight changes. 



1.12 Synonymy 



Tetrapturus belone Rafinesque, 1810. 



Tetrapturus belone Rafinesque, 1810, Caratteri, p. 54- 

 55, pi. 1, Fig. 1 (original description; type locality: 

 Sicily). Robins and de Sylva, 1963, Bull. Mar. Sci. 

 Gulf Caribb. 13(1):84-122 (redescription; neotype 

 based on a 1,268-mm specimen from Sicily, USNM 

 196527. 



Skeponopodus typus Nardo, 1833, Isis (Oken) 26(4): 

 416-419 (type locality: Adriatic Sea). 



Tetrapterurus belone Bonaparte, 1841, Icon. Fauna 

 Ital. 3(1):19 (emended orthographic spelling of Tet- 

 rapturus Rafinesque). 



Tetrapterus belone Agassiz, 1843, Recherches Poiss. 

 Foss. 5:7, 89-90, table E (emended spelling). 



Tetraplurus belone Verany, 1847, Atti Ott. Riun. Sci. 

 Ital. Genoa, p. 492-494 (Camogli, Ligurian Sea; 

 misprint for Tetrapturus?). 



Histiophorus belone Giinther, 1860, Cat. Fishes 2:513 

 (new combination). 



Scheponopodus prototypus Canestrini, 1872, Fauna 

 Italia (3):112 (type locality: Italy; variation of spell- 

 ing of Skeponopodus Nardo, 1833). 



Histiophorus (Tetrapturus) belone Liitken, 1876, J. 

 Zool. (Gervais) 5:60-63, pi. 3 (Tetrapturus a sub- 

 genus of Histiophorus). 



Tetrapturus imperator Goode, 1883, Rep. U.S. Comm. 

 Fish Fish, for 1880: 306-307 (T. belone erroneously 

 placed in synonymy of T. imperator Schneider, a 

 synonym of and based upon a drawing of Xiphias 

 gladius, copied from Aldrovandi). 



'Contribution No. 1834, University of Miami, Rosenstiel School 

 of Marine and Atmospheric Science. 



'Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Univer- 

 sity of Miami, Miami, FL 33149. 



Makaira belone Tortonese, 1958, Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. 

 Nat. 97(4):330 (new combination). 



Tetrapturus beloni [sic] Briggs, 1958, State Mus. 2(8): 

 287 (erroneously listed from Florida; non Rafines- 

 que but pfluegeri, as shown by Robins and de Sylva, 

 1963). 



1.2 Taxonomy 



The identity of this species has been very uncertain. 

 For example, LaMonte and Marcy (1941:21-22) 

 suggested that belone merely represented the young of 

 some other billfish. Lack of specimens precluded 

 determination of the identity of this taxon until 

 Robins and de Sylva (1960), thanks largely to the late 

 Al Pflueger, presented data on 23 western Atlantic 

 specimens which they tentatively identified as T. 

 belone. In 1960 and 1961 C. Richard Robins and the 

 late John K. Howard visited Mediterranean countries 

 to obtain specimens, especially from Sicily — the type 

 locality of T. belone. Subsequently, Robins and de 

 Sylva (1963) presented data on 35 specimens of T. 

 belone from the Mediterranean, redescribed the 

 species, and designated a neotype. 



1.21 Affinities 



The phylogenetic relations of this species have been 

 reviewed by Robins and de Sylva (1960, 1963). This 

 species clearly has affinities with other small spear- 

 fishes and is somewhat closely related to the sailfish 

 genus Istiophorus, showing fewer affinities to the 

 genus Makaira (sensu stricto). It is most closely 

 related to the shortbill spearfish, Tetrapturus 

 angustirostris Tanaka, of the Indo-Pacific and is more 

 distantly related to the longbill spearfish, T. pfluegeri 

 Robins and de Sylva, of the Atlantic. Its relationships 

 with the roundscale spearfish, T. georgei Lowe, are 

 discussed by Robins (1974a). Within the genus, its 

 most distant relatives are the white marlin, T. albidus 

 Poey, and the striped marlin, T. audax (Philippi). 



The genus Tetrapturus is briefly characterized 

 by having: the anterior lobe of the spinous dorsal fin 

 higher than the body depth at the dorsal-fin origin, 

 with the lobe often rounded; 12 precaudal plus 12 cau- 

 dal vertebrae; flesh red; and the size usually small, 

 usually less than 300 pounds (136.1 kg). 



A synonymy of Tetrapturus was given by Robins 



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