70 ZOOLOGISCHE MEDEDEELINGEN — DEEL VI. 



3. On Sphyraena picuda BI. Schn. 



We don't think it possible to separate the indo-pacific S. commersoui 

 C. Y. from the atlantic S. picuda Bl. Schn. The differences between the 

 two, as mentioned by different authors, do not hold good. According to 

 Cuvier & Valenciennes (Hist. Nat. Poissons III, 1829, p. 343), the 

 atlantic species misses the small teeth on the palatines behind the cani- 

 nes. Bleek er (Yerh. Bat. Gen. XXYI, 1849, Bijdr. Sphyraenoïden, p. 

 16) thought that this was a difference between the two species. This is 

 however not the case, Jordan & Evermann f. i. describe them in 

 their „Fishes of North America, Part I, 1896, p. 823" and we found 

 them too in a specimen from Curaçao. At the time that Grünther pre- 

 pared the second volume of the „ Catalogue", the British Museum did 

 not possess any specimens of S. commersonii; Grünther followed therefore 

 Bleeker's description of this species. The chief differences between the 

 two species, here under consideration, are according to Grünther that 

 in S. picuda the insertion of the dorsal would be in a vertical with 

 that of the ventrals, whereas in S. commersonii the dorsal is inserted 

 behind the ventrals. The statement for S. picuda is erroneous; as well 

 as in 8. commersoni in S. picuda the dorsal begins behind the ventrals. 



Fowler says of S. snodgrassi Jenk., which is a synonym of S. com- 

 mersoni: „close to S. baracuda (—picuda) of the West Indies, appa- 

 rently differing in the shorter maxillary". This difference too does not 

 hold good: In a specimen of 316 mm length from Curaçao the maxilla- 

 ries go 2.3 in head, in a specimen of 350 mm. from Celebes 2.2. In 

 these two specimens of about the same length, the atlantic has, to the 

 contrary of Fowler's statement, the shorter maxillary. We have care- 

 fully compared the two specimens mentioned above and cannot find 

 any difference, either in height, length of head or position and length 

 of fins, or in the form or number of teeth or in the number of scales. 



Bleeker (Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. II, 1865, p. 265) described a spe- 

 cimen from the Antilles as S. commersonii and remarks: „On ne savait 

 pas jusqu'ici que cette espèce habite aussi l'Océan Atlantique. L'indi- 

 vidu, qui a servi à ma description provenant des Antilles et conservé 

 au Musée de Leide sous le nom de Sphyraena picuda, ne diffère pas 

 spécifiquement des individus de l'Archipel Indien, décrits dans mon mé- 

 moire cité. Je l'ai comparé avec des individus indo-archipélagiques de 

 précisément la même taille et je n'ai pu trouver la moindre différence." 

 It is curious that Bleeker, with these facts before him, does not seem 

 to have doubted the validity of S. picuda and only mentions that his 

 specimen was labelled by that name. The small teeth on the palatines, 



