92 
Fishery Bulletin 96( 1 ), 1998 
ence). Springer and Bullis, 1956:55 (Gulf of Mexico 
localities). Briggs, 1958:297 (Florida). Hoese, 
1958:346 (Texas). Duarte-Bello, 1959:65 (Cuba). 
Cervigon, 1961:42 (Venezuela). Bullis and Thomp- 
son, 1965:34 (North Carolina, Florida). Moe and 
Martin, 1965:149 (off Tampa, Florida). Caldwell, 
1966:84 (Jamaica). Cervigon, 1966:817 (Venezu- 
ela). Carvalho et al., 1968:3 (Brazil; in key). Moe, 
1968:172 (Gulf of Mexico; reversed, partially 
ambicolorate specimen). Starck, 1968:31 (Alliga- 
tor Reef, Florida). Struhsaker, 1969:298 (southeast- 
ern coast United States). Mago-Leccia, 1970:111 
(Venezuela). Franks et al., 1972:124 (Mississippi; 
two specimens with ecological data). Topp and Hoff, 
1972:79 (west Florida shelf; synonymy, counts, fig- 
ure, distribution, ecology). Miller and Jorgenson, 
1973:305 (meristic features and vertebrae counts, 
four specimens). Palacio, 1974:86 (Colombia). 
Chittenden and McEachran, 1976:94 (northwest 
Gulf of Mexico). Menezes and Benvegnu, 1976:148 
(Brazil; redescription, counts, figure; senior syn- 
onym of S. sumptuosus Chabanaud, 1948, and S. 
pterospilotus Ginsburg, 1951). Chittenden and 
Moore, 1977:111 (110 m depth contour, central and 
western Gulf of Mexico). Lema and Oliveira, 1977:5 
(in key). Ogren and Brusher, 1977:101 (St. Andrews 
Bay, Florida). Soares, 1978:24 (Rio Grande do 
Norte, Brazil). McCaffrey, 1981:204 (northeast Gulf 
of Mexico). Nonato et al., 1983:151 (Sao Paulo 
State, Brazil). Darcy and Gutherz, 1984:93 (west 
Florida shelf). Valdez and Aguilera, 1987:174 (Gulf 
ofVenezuela; counts, description, figure). Cervigon 
et al., 1993:305 (Venezuela; descriptive characters; 
distribution; figure). Darovec, 1995:88 (distribu- 
tion on west Florida shelP. 
Symphurus pterospilotus Ginsburg, 1951:194 (origi- 
nal description, figure; Isla de Flores, Uruguay). 
Menezes and Benvegnu, 1976:148 (redescription, 
counts; junior synonym of S. diomedeanus). 
Lazzaro, 1977:69 (in key). Soares, 1978:24 (Rio 
Grande do Norte, Brazil). Lema et al., 1980:45 
(Porto Belo and Florianopolis, Brazil; literature 
summary). Menni et al., 1984:202 (Uruguay; pos- 
sible synonym of S. diomedianus). 
Symphurus diomedanus [sic]. Correa et al., 1986:37 
(Matinhos, Brazil; common names; figure). 
Symphurus parvus (not of Ginsburg, 1951). Gaspar- 
Dillanes and Espinosa-Perez, 1989:252 (inner con- 
tinental shelf, Quintana Roo, Mexico). 
Symphurus plagiusa (not of Linnaeus, 1766). Gaspar- 
Dillanes and Espinosa-Perez, 1989:252 (inner con- 
tinental shelf, Quintana Roo, Mexico). 
Diagnosis Symphurus diomedeanus is distin- 
guished from all congeners by its unique combina- 
tion of: predominant 1-4-3 ID pattern; 10 caudal-fin 
rays; 4 hypurals; 86-96 dorsal-fin rays; 69-80 anal- 
fin rays; 47-50 total vertebrae; 79-96 scales in lon- 
gitudinal series; well-developed pupillary operculum; 
unpigmented peritoneum; absence of scales on blind 
sides of dorsal- and anal-fin rays; absence of mem- 
brane ostia in dorsal and anal fins; absence of fleshy 
ridge on ocular-side lower jaw; usually with single, 
mostly incomplete, row of teeth extending to middle 
of margin of ocular-side lower jaw; ocular-side upper 
jaw usually without teeth (occasionally with few teeth 
on margin at premaxillary symphysis); ocular sur- 
face uniformly yellowish to dark brown without 
prominent blotches on caudal region (occasionally 
with faint traces of irregular number of wide, dif- 
fuse, poorly defined, crossbands); without pigmented 
spot on outer surface of ocular-side opercle; blind side 
without pepper-dot pigmentation; and posterior por- 
tions of dorsal and anal fins with series of well-de- 
veloped, nonocellated spots (rarely with nonocellated 
spot also on caudal fin). 
Description A relatively large species attaining 
sizes to ca. 207 mm SL. ID pattern usually 1-4-3 (160/ 
218 specimens), less frequently 1-5-3 (13/218), 1-4-2 
(13/218), or 1-3-4 (Table 2). Caudal-fin rays usually 
10 (202/213), rarely 9, 11, or 12 (Table 3). Dorsal-fin 
rays 86-96, usually 88-93 (Table 4). Anal-fin rays 
69-80, usually 72-77 (Table 5). Total vertebrae 47- 
50, usually 48-50 (215/219) (Table 6). Hypurals 4 
(219/219). Longitudinal scale rows 79-96, usually 84- 
94 (Table 7). Scale rows on head posterior to lower 
orbit 16-21, usually 17-20 (Table 8). Transverse 
scales 34-47, usually 37-44 (Table 9). 
Proportions of morphometric features presented in 
Table 27. Body moderately deep; maximum depth in 
anterior one-third of body; body depth tapering fairly 
rapidly posterior to midpoint. Preanal length con- 
siderably smaller than body depth. Head moderately 
long and narrow, considerably narrower than body 
depth. Head length shorter than head width (HW:HL 
1.11-1.41, x- 1.2). Lower head lobe width slightly 
less than postorbital length; considerably narrower 
than upper head lobe. Lower opercular lobe of ocu- 
lar side considerably wider than upper opercular lobe. 
Snout short and rounded; covered with small ctenoid 
scales. Dermal papillae well developed on snout, chin, 
and dorsal portion of head at base of dorsal fin on 
blind side of body. Anterior nostril on ocular side 
short, when depressed posteriorly, usually falling just 
short of anterior margin of lower eye. Jaws relatively 
short; maxilla extending posteriorly only to point 
between verticals through middle and anterior mar- 
gin of pupil of lower eye. Ocular-side lower jaw with- 
out obvious fleshy ridge. Teeth well developed on 
