60 
Fred C. Rohde et al. 
based on the above record (UF 39809), it should be added to the 
continental shelf fauna. 
Tetraodontidae 
Lagocephalus lagocephalus (Linnaeus 1758) 
The first United States oceanic puffers (UF 44194, 169 mm SL; 
190 mm SL, specimen mounted) were collected at 34°21.5'N, 75°55'W 
in 64 m on 6 August 1985. They were dipnetted at night from a 
school of 6 to 8 individuals swimming at the surface. Lagocephalus 
lagocephalus is widespread, ranging through the eastern Atlantic, the 
Mediterranean Sea, and the Pacific and Indian oceans (Shipp 1974). 
Templeman (1962) reported the first North American occurrence of 
the species from a single individual collected in Newfoundland. Other 
isolated western Atlantic records of the species include Bermuda, the 
Gulf Stream off Florida, and Curacao (Shipp 1974). 
DISCUSSION 
The offshore (>20 m) ichthyofauna of North Carolina, particularly 
on hard bottoms, is dominated (species numbers) by tropical and subtropical 
species. Expanded sampling of the offshore hard bottom and outer 
shelf habitats continues to increase the number of these forms known 
off the Carolinas. Although the Gulf Stream undoubtedly helps dis- 
perse tropical organisms into the area, many of these southern species 
apparently maintain self-sustaining populations on North Carolina’s 
middle to outer continental shelf (Grimes et al. 1977, Grimes and 
Huntsman 1980, S. W. Ross, North Carolina National Estuarine 
Research Reserve, unpublished data). Burgess et al. (1994), in fact, 
proposed that a redefined tropical West Indian zoogeographic province 
should include the reefs of the outer continental shelf of the South 
Atlantic Bight to Cape Hatteras. The 11 species documented herein 
are most common in warm-temperate to tropical waters along the outer 
shelf or upper slope south of North Carolina. Three of these (C. fuscula, 
G. hispanus, L. purpureus ) tend to be benthic and tied to reef-like 
habitats. The remainder are either pelagic or benthopelagic, and are 
capable of extensive movements. 
Briggs (1974) noted that, within the warm-temperate Carolinian 
Region, the northern Gulf of Mexico contained a richer fish fauna 
(375-400 species) than the Atlantic coast. Since his publication, many 
new records have been added to both areas. Hoese and Moore (1977) 
reported over 400 fishes from the northern Gulf of Mexico, and Boschung 
(1992) listed around 663 marine fishes from the eastcentral Gulf of 
Mexico. Dahlberg (1975) reported nearly 400 species in and near Georgia 
