Frable et al.: Description of a new species of Synodus in the western Atlantic Ocean 
143 
Fisheries concerns 
Globally, some synodontids are commercially important 
as food fishes. Trachinocephalus rnyops, Synodus syno- 
dus, Saurida tumbil (Greater Lizardfish), and Harpa- 
don nehereus (Bombay Duck) are targeted throughout 
the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia 
(Raje et al., 2004; Ghosh et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2011). 
In the western Atlantic, synodontid species are encoun- 
tered almost exclusively as bycatch in recreational and 
commercial fisheries. As a result, they have received 
little attention from fisheries researchers and manag- 
ers despite their role as significant fish predators in 
various ecosystems (Sweatman, 1984; Cruz-Escolano et 
al., 2005). As mentioned previously, S. foetens makes 
up 1. 5-2.0% of shrimp-trawl biomass and is usually 
among the 10 most prevalent finfish encountered by 
shrimp trawlers in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and 
off the southeastern United States. 1 (Gutherz, 1987; 
Jeffers et al., 2008; Manjarres et al., 2008). These stud- 
ies also report collection of S. intermedins and S. poeyi 
in much smaller amounts. 
Jeffers et al. (2008) found that S. foetens in the 
northern Gulf of Mexico has a very high instantaneous 
annual mortality related to bycatch in fisheries ( F h ), 
ranging from 0.4-0.6/year, and estimated exploitation 
ratios ( E ) of 0.43-0.55. Exploitation ratios of more than 
0.5 generally indicate heavy fishing pressure and po- 
tential for overexploitation (Gulland, 1977). These data 
indicate that, although S. foetens is not commercially 
targeted, it is still fully exploited as bycatch. 
To date, only commercially targeted fish species have 
been evaluated quantitatively as bycatch in the north- 
ern Gulf of Mexico (Jeffers et al., 2008), and little is 
known about bycatch rates and their effects on popula- 
tions for noncommercial species. Broad ecosystem-scale 
studies of the effects of bycatch are needed that include 
nontargeted but exploited species, such as lizardfishes. 
For such studies, as well as any management plans 
that might result from them, an accurate understand- 
ing of species diversity and distribution is essential. 
This study provides new insights into the systematics 
of lizardfishes in the western Atlantic that should be 
incorporated into future management plans and fisher- 
ies research programs. 
Conclusions 
The description of Synodus macrostigmus as a new 
species and the recognition of S. bondi as a valid spe- 
cies bring the total number of valid western Atlantic 
Synodus species to 7. The integration of molecular and 
morphological data greatly facilitated identification of 
the new species and recognition of S. bondi as valid. A 
thorough systematic revision of western Atlantic Syn- 
odontidae that incorporates both molecular and mor- 
phological data is needed, and it seems likely that ad- 
ditional new species may exist. Geographic variation 
and population structure within this group also war- 
rant further study. 
Acknowledgments 
We would like to thank the many people who facili- 
tated this study: A. Driskell, A. Ormos, D. Smith, R. 
Myers, A. Bentley, P. Webster, E. Wiley, R. Robins, M. 
Sabaj Perez, J. Lundberg, B. Nagareda, R. Causse, C. 
Ferrara, D. Johnson, C. Boucher, D. R. Robertson, J. 
Van Tassell, C. Castillo, S. Raredon, B. Collette, and Z. 
Baldwin. Research in Florida was conducted pursuant 
to Special Activities License no. 07SR-1024B to the sec- 
ond author. This article is contribution number 935 of 
the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, Smith- 
sonian Institution, supported in part by the Hunter- 
don Oceanographic Research Fund and Smithsonian 
Marine Station at Fort Pierce contribution number 905. 
Literature cited 
Anderson, W. W., and J. W. Gehringer. 
1975. The correlation between numbers of vertebrae and 
lateral-line scales in western Atlantic lizardfishes (Syn- 
odontidae). Fish. Bull. 73:202-206. 
Anderson, W. W., J. W. Gehringer, and F. H. Berry. 
1966. Family Synodontidae: lizardfishes. In Fishes 
of the western North Atlantic. Part five: Lizardfishes, 
other Iniomi, deepsea gulpers (Y. H. Olsen and J. W. 
Atz, eds.), p. 30-102. Memoir 1, Sears Foundation for 
Marine Research, Yale Univ., New Haven, CT. 
Baldwin, C. C., C. I. Castillo, L. A. Weigt, and B. C. Victor. 
2011. Seven new species within western Atlantic Stark- 
sia atlantica, S. lepicoelia, and S. sluiten (Teleostei: 
Labrisomidae), with comments on congruence of DNA 
barcodes and species. ZooKeys 79:21-72. 
Baldwin, C. C., and L. A. Weigt. 
2012. A new species of soapfish (Teleostei: Serranidae: 
Rypticus), with redescription of R. subbifrenatus and 
comments on the use of DNA barcoding in systematic 
studies. Copeia 2012:23-36. 
Baldwin, C. C., L. A. Weigt, D. G. Smith, and J. H. Mounts. 
2009. Reconciling genetic lineages with species in west- 
ern Atlantic Coryphopterus (Teleostei: Gobiidae). In 
Proceedings of the Smithsonian Marine Science Net- 
work Symposium; 15-16 November 2007. Smithson. 
Contrib. Mar. Sci. 38 (M. A. Lang, I. G. Macintyre, K. 
Rutzler, eds.), p. 113-140. Smithson. Inst. Scholarly 
Press, Washington, D.C. 
Banford, H. M., E. Bermingham, B. B. Collette, and S. S. 
McCafferty. 
1999. Phylogenetic systematics of the Scomberomorus 
regalis (Teleostei: Scombridae) species group: molecules, 
morphology and biogeography of Spanish mackerels. 
Copeia 1999:596-613. 
Bertin, L., and R. Esteve. 
1950. Catalogue des types de poissons du Museum Na- 
tional d’Histoire Naturelle, 6e partie: haplomes, hete- 
romes, catosteomes, 60 p. Imp. Nationale, Paris. 
