THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
58 
The total number of fishes now known from Porto Rican waters is 291 species. 
Prior to the investigations by the IT. S. Fish Commission the number was 99. Of 
the 291 species, 263 were obtained by us, and of this number 33 species proved to be 
new, which is more than 12.5 per cent of the species collected by us, or 11.3 per cent 
of the entire known fish fauna of the island. 
The 291 species represent 76 families and 165 genera, 3 of the latter being new. 
The majority of the families and genera are represented by but few species each. 
Among the families with largest representation are the grunts (Hcemulidce), with 17 
species; the sea basses and groupers ( S&rranidce ), with 16 species; the pampanos ( Car- 
angidoe) and parrot-fishes (Scaridoe), with 15 species each; and the blennies (JBlenniidce) 
and gobies ( Gobiidai) , with 11 species each. The snappers ( Lutianidce ) are represented 
by 11 species. The largest genera are Sparisoma , with 11 species; Neomcanis , with 10; 
Ilcemulon and Stolephorus , with 8 each; and Caranx , Scorpcena , and Auchenopterios, with 
5 each. Several families and many genera are represented by a single species each. 
The food-fishes of the island are numerous as to species, but only fairly abundant 
as to individuals. The absence of extensive shoals or banks about the island, the com- 
paratively limited area of shallow water about the river mouths, and the fewness and 
small size of the bays, are evidence that there can not be suitable feeding-grounds 
such as could support large numbers of commercial fishes. The number of species of 
fishes used as food is, however, large, as is shown in the chapter on the commercial 
fisheries of the island. 
A comparison of the fish fauna of Porto Rico with that of Cuba and other 
neighboring regions will prove interesting. Poey records 199 species from Cuba, 
301 of which have not been taken in Porto Rico. Of the 291 species known from 
Porto Rico, 198 are common to it and Cuba, while 93 of them are not known from 
Cuba. 
The number of species known from the Florida Keys is almost exactly the same 
as the number recorded from Porto Rico. With few exceptions the food-fishes 
found at Key West, Habana, and Porto Rico are identical, and the same is true for 
Jamaica, from which Jordan & Rutter give a list of 197 species. Of these, 15 were 
not obtained by us, and of our 291 species, 139 were not listed by them from Jamaica. 
The species common to Key West, Habana, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, however, 
show that those four regions belong to one fauna — the West Indian. It is true that 
at Ivejr West are found a number of species which are not yet known from the West 
Indies, and which probably do not occur among them, but they are mostly stragglers 
or the peripheral species of the faunas of the Gulf and the coast of the South Atlantic 
States. 
Another remarkable feature of the Porto Rican fish fauna is the paucity in the 
representation of the cyprinodonts. The family Poecili idm is a large one, and in most 
of our tropical waters it is represented by many species. From Florida 21 species 
of this family are recognized, but only 2 are known from Porto Rico. This great 
difference is doubtless largely due to the marked difference in the character of the 
environment. The Poeciliidce are chiefly fishes of brackish water and mud bottom, 
conditions adequately met in Florida, but almost entirely absent from Porto Rico. 
