Groupers of Tahiti- — Randall 
285 
diagonal streak ) ; a few diagonal orange lines in 
olive green in basal part of fin; rays orange in 
soft portion of dorsal; extreme base of fin with 
a red band; remaining fins light orange-red. 
Katayama described the color of his speci- 
mens as dark red, each scale with a basal spot of 
greenish brown; membranes between dorsal 
spines tipped with black; other parts of dorsal 
olive; upper several rays of caudal olive, the 
rest of the fin red, with a dark submarginal 
area and a white edge; other fins red. 
Because some differences seemed to exist 
between the Tahiti specimens and the original 
description given for tmncatus , a request was 
made of Katayama for comparative material. 
He sent the holotype, a well-preserved specimen 
319 mm in standard length. There is now little 
doubt that his specimen and the two from Tahiti 
are conspecific. Meristic data are essentially the 
same. The only morphological differences noted 
are the slightly more convex interorbital space 
and more rounded pectoral fins of the specimens 
from Tahiti. The black areas in the pale distal 
part of the membranes of the spinous portion of 
the dorsal fin of the holotype are much better de- 
veloped (there are only traces of pigment dis- 
tally on the spinous dorsal of the Tahitian 
specimens). There is no white caudal margin 
and dark submarginal band on the specimens 
from Tahiti (possibly overlooked when speci- 
mens were fresh). The border caudal markings 
are now very faint on the holotype. The pale 
edge and narrow dark submarginal line around 
the eye are identical on all three fish. The slight 
differences in morphology and color are probably 
due to the disparity in size of the specimens 
under comparison or are within the range of 
variability of the species. Some differences might 
be expected of fish collected at such distant 
localities as Japan and Tahiti. 
on the validity of Cephalopholis obtusamm 
The same fishermen who caught the two 
specimens of Epinephelus tmncatus from rela- 
tively deep water off Tahiti brought another 
Fig. 3. Epinephelus tmncatus Katayama, 238 mm standard length, Tahiti (USNM 75400). Drawing by 
Dorothea B. Schultz. 
