Fishes of the IVestern North Atla?itic 



121 



264), for the eastern end of Long Island, New York {55: 33), and for Rhode Island 

 {68: 72). The Tarpon has been reported as being taken in small numbers almost 

 every year in the vicinity of Woods Hole, Massachusetts (67: 741). But the Tarpon 

 has been reported only once for the Gulf of Maine, when a specimen was taken at 

 Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod on July 25, 191 5 (6: 91). Northward from Cape 

 Cod there are only five records of it, all for Nova Scotia — one from Isaac Harbor 

 (jj: 45), one from Harrigan Cove {70: 53), one of about three feet caught near Ter- 

 rence Bay, September 6, 1947, and two taken near Halifax on August 3-4, 1953 

 (information from Dr. A. H. Leim). The Tarpon is common on the coast of tropical 

 West Africa (25: 154; 43: 106; i [1951]= 18-19)- 



Synonyms and References:* 



Clupea gigantea S\\ivf (m part), Genl. Zool.,5 (i), 1804: 173 (no type or type local, design., diagn., genl. acct., 

 habitat).' 



Megalops giganteus Voigt in Cuvier, Das Thierreich (German transl.), 2, 1832: 423 (refs.; cf. Amer. M.giganteus 

 and east. M. filamentosus Lacepede); "Disciples' edition" of Cuvier's Regne Anim., J, 1836: 559 

 (same as above with somewhat more extended descr.); Eng. ed., 10, 1834: 442 (design. Amer. species 

 as M. cyprinoides, with ref. to Bloch's pi. 403 ; pelvics under anterior part of dorsal are as in Mega/ops 

 cyprinoUes Broussenet as now understood, but 15 rays in dorsal suggest Tarpon). 



Megalops atlantkus Cuvier and \'alenciennes. Hist. Nat. Poiss., ig, 1846: 398 (orig. descr., type local. Guade- 

 loupe, Santo Domingo, Martinique, Puerto Rico; types in Paris) ; Poey, Repert. Fisico-Nat. Cuba, 2, 1 868 : 

 423 (diagn., brackish water of Cuban rivers, attains 5 feet); An. Soc. esp. Hist. Nat., 4, 1875 : 146 (Cuba, 

 Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Martinique, Trinidad, Mexico, British Guiana); in Gundlach, 

 An. Soc. esp. Hist. Nat., JO, 1881: 343 (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Martinique, Mexico); 

 Henshall, Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. (1889), 9, 1891 : 385 (effect of cold water); Boulenger, Ann. Mag. nat. 

 Hist., (6) 20, 1897: 298 (Marajo I., Brazil); Gill, Smithson. misc. Coll., 48, 1905: 35 (descr., habitat, 

 game quahties, life hist., common names, etc.); Regan, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (8) 5, 1910: 354 (caudal 

 skel. cf M.cyprinoides); Fowler, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash., JJ, 1920: 147 (Cape May, Monmouth and 

 Ocean counties, New Jersey); Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 80, 1929: 609 (Barnegat Inlet, Atlantic 

 Highlands, and Atlantic City, New Jersey); Copeia, 1931 : 46 (sport fish. Port Aransas and Point Isabel, 

 Texas); Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., yo (i), 1936: 154, fig. 61 (African recs.; descr. based on Amer. 

 specimens); Puyo, Bull. Soc. Hist. nat. Toulouse, yo, 1936: 65, 163 (diagn., habitat in French Guiana); 

 Cadenat, Rev. Trav. Off. Peches marit., 10, Fasc. 4, Liv. 4, Pt. 2, 1937: 441, figs. 5, 6 (refs., remarks); 

 Norman and Fraser, Giant Fishes, 1938: 93, fig. 34 (semipopular acct.); Puyo, Faune Emp. Fran^., 

 12, Poiss. Guijane Frang., 1949: 151, fig- 75 (descr., Fr. Guiana). 



Megalops elongatus Girard, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. (1858), 1859: 224 (orig. descr., t>^pe local. Long Island, 

 New York; type not preserved). 



Megalops thrissoides Giinther (not of Bloch and Schneider, which probably is M. cyprinoides). Cat. Fish. Bnt. 

 Mus., 7, 1868: 472 (diagn., Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, Brit. Guiana); Goode, Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 5, 

 1876: 68 (rare in Bermuda); Yarrow, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 1877: 215 (Ft. Macon, North 

 Carolina); Steindachner, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, jp, 1878: 69 (Magdalena R., Colombia); Jordan 



6. The Tarpon has been discussed in so many popular books and periodicals that it does not seem practical to list all 

 references to them. Therefore, only some popular accounts are cited, and only those citations in scientific periodicals 

 that seem to contain substantial information. African records have been omitted except for references to Fowler 

 (J5) and Cadenat {14), whose publications contain important references to African literature treating the species. 



7. This name was based by Shaw upon Marcgrave {$0), who deah entirely with the Atlantic Tarpon, and upon Clupea 

 cyprinoides of Bloch, which is a composite of the Tarpon and the Pacific Megalops cyprinoides (Broussonet). Since 

 Shaw's account is thus a composite, it devolved upon a subsequent revisor to assign the name gigantea to one of the 

 included species. This was done by Cuvier [ig: 324), who definitely assigned the name gigantea to the American 

 Atlantic species. It would thus appear that the correct name of the Tarpon should be Tarpon giganteus (Shaw), 

 but the name atlanticus is so well established that its conservation, under suspension of the International Rules, 

 would seem to be worthwhile. — G. S. Mvers. 



