NOTES 
235 
those used elsewhere in the Pacific, were fished 
to depths of approximately 150 feet. Large big- 
eyed tuna were captured at 10 localities (Table 
l) of which 8 were in outlying oceanic waters 
not usually frequented by American tuna vessels. 
Fishing was best just north of the equator. Big- 
eyed tuna were caught as far south as 4°28' 
south latitude, which is about 200 nautical miles 
south of the Galapagos Islands, the southern- 
most limit from which big-eyed tuna have pre- 
viously been recorded. 
TABLE 1 
Records of the Big-Eyed Tuna, Farathunnus sihi, 
FROM the Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean, 
February to March, 1953 
DATE 
position 
number of fish 
Feb. 
3... 
7°02'N-96°39'W 
1 
Feb. 
4. . . 
5°12'N-95°36'W 
1 
Feb. 
5. . . 
3°06'N-95°00'W 
4 
Feb. 
6. . . 
1°30'N-94°25'W 
3 
Feb. 
8. . . 
0°36'S -93°44'W 
1 
Feb. 
9. . . 
2°36'S -93°05'W 
2 
Feb. 
10. . . 
• 4°28'S -92°16'W 
1 
Feb. 
13. . . 
0°15'N-91°20'W 
1 
Mar. 
1 . . . 
2°40'N-85°33'W 
1 
Mar. 
4. . . 
3°16'S -84°38'W 
1 
The big-eyed tuna caught by the longlines 
ranged in length from 991 to 1,814 millimeters 
and in weight from about 60 to 275 pounds. 
Most individuals were more than 1,400 milli- 
meters long and weighed over 150 pounds. 
These fish approximated in size big-eyed tuna 
which appear in commercial longline catches 
of the Japanese and Hawaiian fisheries, but they 
were considerably larger, on the average, than 
those which are occasionally reported by Pacific 
Coast fishermen although, according to them, 
large big-eyed tuna are sometimes taken at the 
surface near the Galapagos Islands. 
All the large fish examined internally, both 
males and females, were in advanced ripening 
or ripe condition according to criteria estab- 
lished by Mart (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Serv., 
Fish. Bui. 51(44): 201-206, 1948). One male 
big-eyed tuna, 1,536 millimeters in total length, 
caught on March 4, 1953, at 3°16' south lati- 
tude, 84°38' west longitude, had just spawned 
or was in the last stages of spawning. The testes 
of this fish were much reduced in size compared 
to those of maturing individuals, and ripe milt 
was present in the central duct and in the uro- 
genital sinus. It thus seems evident that the 
big-eyed tuna spawn in or near this region in 
the late winter or early spring months. 
These findings further elucidate the distribu- 
tion and relative abundance of big-eyed tuna in 
the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Moreover, 
they demonstrate the existence in this region 
of a deep-living parent stock of large big-eyed 
tuna which is not fished by fishing methods 
now used, a phenomenon heretofore suspected 
but unproved. The relationship between this 
population and those found further to the west- 
ward remains to be determined.— B^// M. Shi- 
mada, Inter -American Tropical Tuna Commission, 
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, 
California. 
News Notes 
The color plate facing page 208 of this issue 
was printed by a new three-color process devel- 
loped by the Eastman Kodak Company and 
made available on a developmental basis 
through the Case-Hoyt Corporation of Roches- 
ter, New York. Because of simplified techniques 
reflected in lower costs, the process gives prom- 
ise of making color illustration available to 
scientific workers on a much broader scale than 
was heretofore possible. 
Gressitt, J. L. The Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle 
(Oryctes rhinoceros) with Particular Reference 
to the Palau Islands, viii+157 pp., 50 figs. 
Bulletin 212, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 
Honolulu. 1953. 
Spoehr, Alexander. Saipan: The Ethnology 
of a War-Devastated Island. 383 pp., 32 figs. 
Fieldiana: Anthropology. Vol. 41. Chicago 
Natural History Museum, Chicago. $5.00. 
