Tunas and Spearfishes 



Preface 



The study of the habits of marine fishes is for various reasons 

 extraordinarily difficult, and particularly in the case of species like 

 the tunas and the spearfishes, which migrate widely in the open seas, 

 we may safely say that this is the most difficult of studies. Conse- 

 quently what we know of the subject is extremely little, and further- 

 more, even in what we think we understand of it, it may be thought 

 that there will probably be many points which will require correction 

 as research progresses. That is how poor our knowledge concerning these 

 fishes is. 



What I have treated in this article is principally the distribution 

 of these fishes in Japanese waters and in the seas of Greater East 

 Asia. The data are chiefly based on results obtained by fisheries 

 research vessels. 



I. Species 



Jordan and Evermann recorded one family, 5 genera, and 21 species 

 for the tunas, and 2 families, L, genera, and 32 species for the spear- 

 fishes. This is the total number of species existing on the earth, 

 but actually it is very doubtful whether there are this many species, 

 and among them seme are cited which are clearly the same species under 

 different names. Among these fishes the following are distributed in 

 Japanese waters. First of all, for the tunas Dr. Kishinouye has 

 reported the following 5 species: 



1. Thunnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel) maguro / black tuna_7 



2. T. germo (Lacepede) binnaga / albacorey _ 



3. Parathunnus mebachi (Kishinouye) mebachi / big-eyed tuna_7 

 U. Neo thunnus macropterus (Schlegel) kihada / y6llowfin_/ 



5. N. rarus (Kishinouye) koshinaga 



The above species are generally distributed in Formosan waters 

 and occur widely throughout the seas of Greater East Asia. 



For the spearfishes the author has reported the following species 

 as occurring in Formosan waters: 



1. Tetrapturus angustirostris Tanaka furaika.iiki / short-no sed_marlin_7 



2. Istiophorus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel) bashoka.i'iki / sailfish_7 



3. Makaira mitsukurii (Jordan & Snyder) maka.jiki / true marlin / 

 U. M. mazara (Jordan & Snyder) kuroka.jiki / black marlin_7 



5. M. marlina Jordan & Evermann shiroka.iiki / white marlin_7 



6. Xiphias gladius Linne meka.i'iki / broadbill 7 



These are generally distributed throughout the seas of Japan and 

 Greater East Asia. 



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