ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF FISHES 



313 



mesopelagic, bathypelagic, and deep benthic fishes, these 

 would have to be treated differently from a zoogeographic 

 standpoint than shore fishes. In his excellent review of the 

 biogeography of the Pacific Plate with emphasis on fishes, 

 Springer (1982) discussed shore fishes (those from depths 

 less than 100 m), not deeper water species (except some 

 from the Hawaiian Islands). 



We solicited from Ernest A. Lachner and Christine 

 Baer a preliminary list of the Gobiidae from the Marshall 

 Islands to include with the present checklist. We have 

 added a few species to their list from Bishop Museum 

 specimens, and Douglass F. Hoese has added some from 

 a collection of about 150 lots of gobies sent him by 

 Ronald S. Nolan, who conducted his doctoral thesis 

 research on reef fishes at Enewetak. Hoese and E. O. 

 Murdy also advised on some gobiid name changes. Ran- 

 dall and Hoese (1985) have removed the gobioid genera 

 Nemateleoths and Ptereleoths from the family Gobiidae 

 and provisionally placed them in the subfamily Ptereleo- 

 trinae of the family Microdesmidae. 



Although we have endeavored to make the present 

 checklist as current as possible, we wish to emphasize that 

 it is far from definitive. Species of shore fishes surely 

 remain to be collected from the Marshall Islands (though 

 we believe we have more than the 95% level in this 

 respect). The estimated 45 new species which have been 

 collected need to be described. Most important, many of 

 the taxonomic groups of Indo-Pacific fishes need to be 

 revised. Inevitably, such studies will result in changes in 

 scientific names now in widespread use. Among those 

 groups most in need of revision are the Mobulidae; Dasya- 

 tididac; all of the eel families; the Bythitidae; the scor- 

 paenid genera Scorpaena (sensu hto). Scorpaenodes, and 

 Scorpaenopsis: the serranid genera Anthias. Cephahpholis, 

 Epinephelus. Plectropomus. and Pseudogramma; Pscudo- 

 chromidae; Kuhliidae; Priacanthidae; Apogonidae; the 

 carangid genera Carangoides. Decapterus. and Trachinotus: 

 the Caesionidae; the hacmulid genus Plectorhinchus; the 

 lethrinid genera G{;mnocranius and Lethhnus; the Nemi- 

 pteridae; Gerreidae; Mullidae; Pempherididae; Kyphosidae; 

 the pomacentrid genera Chromis, C/irysipfera, and 

 Pomacentrus; the Mugilidae; Sphyraenidae; Polynemidae; 

 the labrid genera Cheilinus, Cirrhilabrus, Coris, 

 Halichoeres, Pseudocheilinus. Pteragogus, and Xyrichtys; 

 the scarid genus Scarus; the blenniid genera Cirripectes, 

 Istiblennius, Praealticus, Rhabdoblennius, and Salarias; the 

 Tripterygiidae; the callionymid genera Callionvmus and 

 Diphgrammus; the Gobiidae; the acanthurid genus Naso; 

 the soleid genus Aseraggodes; and the tctraodontid genus 

 Arothron. Fortunately, many of these groups are under 

 study, and clarification of their taxonomy can be expected 

 reasonably soon. 



The present checklist is tied closely to the work of 

 Schultz et al. Anyone working on Marshall Islands fishes 

 will surely begin with these three volumes. This list will, 

 therefore, serve as a supplement to provide additions and 

 name changes. We have cited all the fish names of Schultz 

 et al. When these names have been changed, they are 



listed as synonyms below the correct name and are 

 indented three spaces. When needed, an annotation is pro- 

 vided to explain the name change and give the authority. 



Only those synonyms are listed that were used as valid 

 names in Schultz et al. The author given for each of these 

 synonyms is the one responsible for the Marshall Islands 

 record, not the author of the species (unless named as new 

 in Schultz et al. or in other papers on the Marshall Islands 

 fish fauna). 



We have eliminated the listing of Schultz et al. each 

 time Schultz or one of his collaborators is cited in the 

 checklist. Thus Schultz, 1953, implies Schultz in Schultz et 

 al., 1953. Similarly, we have shortened Cuvier (or Valenci- 

 ennes) in Cuvier and Valenciennes to just Cuvier (or Valen- 

 ciennes). 



Subgeneric categories have not been included in the 

 checklist. 



The order of presentation is phylogenetic, approximat- 

 ing that of Greenwood et al. (1966). 



We have not made a documentation of the different 

 atolls at which the various species of fishes have been col- 

 lected. Such listing is provided by Schultz et al. and by 

 Randall (1986). Little difference in the fish fauna can be 

 expected from one atoll to the next within the Marshall 

 Islands, particularly those of about the same latitude. 

 There are differences, however, from the northern to the 

 southern Marshalls. More species of fishes are presently 

 known from the northern atolls because these have been 

 more heavily collected. This is especially true of Bikini and 

 Enewetak. Bikini is the atoll best represented in the 

 material at the National Museum of Natural History, but 

 the extensive Bishop Museum collections made by the 

 senior author and associates over the last 16 years at 

 Enewetak have made it the locality with the most species. 

 We believe, however, that the southern atolls would have 

 a slightly richer fish fauna if the collecting effort were 

 equal. A number of conspicuous species that have been 

 found at Kwajalein or other southern atolls in the Marshalls 

 have not been observed at Enewetak. Examples are 

 Myripristis adustus, Sargocentron rubrum, Anthias 

 bartlettorum, Epinephelus caeruleopunctatus, Plectropomus 

 oligacanthus, Carangoides plagiotaenia, Pterocaesio sp., 

 Scolopsis lineatus. Heniochus uarius. Halichoeres richmondi, 

 Scarus bleekeh. Amblx^gobius decussatus. Acanthurus 

 maculiceps, Siganus vulpinus, and Balistoides conspicillum. 

 This, of course, is not to say that they are truly absent 

 from Enewetak. 



How does the fish fauna of the Marshall Islands com- 

 pare with the rest of the Indo-West-Pacific region? Of the 

 estimated total of 20,000 species of fishes in the world, 

 about 8000 are shallow, warm-water marine species 

 (Cohen, 1970). The majority of these warm-water fishes 

 occurs in the vast Indo-West-Pacific region. Using two dif- 

 ferent methods to arrive at an estimate, Springer (1982) 

 concluded that there are about 4000 species of fishes in 

 the tropical Indo-West-Pacific region. Cohen (1973), how- 

 ever, estimated 3000 to 4000 for the Indian Ocean alone. 

 If Cohen is correct, Springer admitted his estimate for the 



