I. Species 



A. General 



Among the systematic studies and publications concerning the spearfishes of Japan, 

 D. S. Jordan and J. O. Snyder—' have recorded two species. These are Tetrapturus mitsukurii , 

 the makajiki, and T. mazara. Dr. Tanaka^' had earlier recorded the following five species 

 from Japan: 



Family Istiophoridae, genus Istiophorus 



1. Istiophorus orientalis 

 Genus Tetrapturus 



2. Tetrapturus mitsukurii 



3. Tetrapturus mazara 



4. Tetrapturus angustirostris 



Family Xiphiidae, genus Xiphias 



5. Xiphias gladius 



In recent years the same author has reported the following two species as representatives 

 of the genus Tetrapturus . These are T. mitsukurii £' and T. angustirostris j.', and he gives the 

 following explanation with regard to them. "Species close to this one (the striped marlin) are 

 called black marlin and white marlin at Tokyo, but it is not clear whether these are separate 

 species or varieties within a single species." Accordingly the new species T. mazara recorded 

 by Jordan and Snyder is in recent writings of Dr. Tanaka treated as the same species or a 

 variety of the sanne species as T. mitsukurii. And although he does not clearly call for the 

 suppression of T. mazara , in actuality it announts to its complete suppression. 



The writer knows nothing of the fish called black marlin and white marlin at Tokyo, but 

 the fish called black marlin (or black-skinned marlin) and white marlin (or white-skinned marlin) 

 at Formosa are of course different from the striped marlin and these two species certainly are 

 not identical. If it is supposed that the commercial operators at Tokyo apply these several names 

 to the several species in the same way that they are used in Formosa, the quotation above cited 

 from Dr. Tanaka should not be "black marlin or white marlin" but "black marlin and white 

 marlin" and instead of speaking of "both of these species" he should speak of "these three 

 species. " 



D. S. Jordan and B. W. Evermann— have divided the spearfishes of the whole world into 

 two families and four genera and record 32 species, 20 of them for the Indo-Pacific region. 

 F, Day_' _'has reported three species, Histiophorus gladius, H. immaculatus, and 

 H. brevirostris from the Indian Ocean. From South Africa K. H. BarnardS/ has reported 

 H, gladius and Makaira herscheli. ~ 



\_l Jordan and Snyder. 1901, Jour. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ., Tokyo. 

 Z_l Tanaka, Shigeo. Japanese Ichthyology, Volume 1, 1921, 



3^/ Tanaka, Shigeo. Illustrated atlas of useful, harmful, and admirable aquatic animals and 

 plants, 1933. 



A_l Tanaka, Shigeo. Fishes of Japan, Vol. 1, 2nd edition, p. 324, 1935. 



5/ Jordan and Evermann: Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Sci. XII, 1926. 



^/ Day F. Fishes Ind. , Vol. 1, pp. 198-199, 1878. 



2/ Day, F. Fauna Brit. Ind., Fish, Vol. 2, 1889. 



£/ Barnard, K. H. Ann. South Africa M us. , Vol. 21, Part 2, 1925-1927. 



