Notes on the Hawaiian Frigate Mackerel of the Genus Auxis 
Walter M. Matsumoto 1 
A NEW DISTRIBUTION RECORD for a long- 
corseletted frigate mackerel of the genus Auxis 
was established on November 30, 1957, with 
the capture of 2 1 specimens in the central Pacific 
Ocean. These fish were taken from the same 
school together with five short-corseletted frigate 
mackerels. The catch was made from the re- 
search vessel "John R. Manning” of the Pacific 
Oceanic Fishery Investigations (POFI), by pole- 
and-line fishing, one mile offshore, two miles 
northwest of Cape Kaea, Lanai. Although the 
long- and short-corseletted Auxis are known 
from both sides of the Pacific, only the short- 
corseletted form has been reported heretofore 
from the central Pacific area. 
As is the case with some of the other scom- 
brids, the taxonomy of this genus is not 
very clear. Although the identity of the short- 
corseletted form has been well established as 
A. thazard (Lacepede 1802), the nomenclature 
of the long-corseletted form has been confused 
because of incomplete description and subse- 
quent misnaming by other workers. It is hoped 
that this paper will help to clarify the nomen- 
clature of this genus. 
The long-corseletted form of the western 
Pacific has been identified by various names. 
Kishinouye (1915: 13-14) recognized two spe- 
cies of Auxis in Japanese waters, to which he 
ascribed the names A. hira and A. maru. The 
former species was described as having a short 
corselet which ended slightly posterior to the 
pectoral fin, whereas the latter was described 
as having a long corselet which extended to 
the anal fin. Under the description of the lat- 
ter species, Kishinouye stated that "Bleeker’s 
tapeinosoma may also be this species, but the 
figure and description of this species are very 
rough and unclear.” In recent years Herre and 
Herald (1951: 319) and Wade (1949: 229) 
applied the name tapeinosoma to the Philippine 
Tishery Research Biologist, Bureau of Commer- 
cial Fisheries, Hawaii Area, Honolulu. Manuscript 
received September 17, 1958. 
long-corseletted form. A review of Bleeker’s 
original description (1854: 408), however, dis- 
closes that tapeinosoma is definitely a short- 
corseletted form, for according to him the corse- 
let ends "slightly posterior to the pectoral fins.” 
This character agrees with the short corselet of 
thazard and hira, and therefore, tapeinosoma, as 
used by Herre and Herald, and by Wade, in 
identifying the long-corseletted species is a 
misnomer. 
The appropriate name for the western Pacific 
long-corseletted species seems to be A. thyn- 
noides Bleeker. Examination of Bleeker’s (1855: 
301) original description of the type specimen 
which was taken at Ternate, East Indies, and 
which is now in the Leiden Museum, clearly in- 
dicates that his specimen is the long-corseletted 
form, for he states that the corselet along the 
lateral line ends "far behind the pectoral fin.” 
The writer’s interpretation of Bleeker’s descrip- 
tion is confirmed by John E. Fitch (through 
private correspondence), who has checked the 
type specimen. It is apparent from the original 
description and from Fitch’s information that 
thynnoides is the earliest available name for the 
western Pacific long-corseletted species. The Ha- 
waiian form described here is identical with 
that from the Philippine waters and agrees well 
with the type specimen described by Bleeker. 
Consequently, it is given the name A. thyn- 
noides Bleeker. 
A. thazard has been described many times by 
previous workers. Nevertheless, in order to 
facilitate the comparison between this species 
and thynnoides, the descriptions of both are 
presented. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES 
Auxis thynnoides Bleeker 
Fig. 1 
This description is based on 20 specimens 
which are now deposited at the POFI laboratory, 
Honolulu, Hawaii. 
173 
