Seamounts and Offshore Banks -- Hubbs 
ing it is evident that within the first full year 
the catch will definitely exceed 2,000 tons, 
with a value to the fishermen of more than 
one-half million dollars; and the relative 
proximity of the ground represents a great 
saving in expenses. Tuna fishermen have re- 
ported taking some rainbow runners, Elegatis 
hipinnulatus (Quoy and Gaimard), from this 
same bank. 
During the Island Current Survey of May- 
June, 1958, personnel of the Inter-American 
Tropical Tuna Commission caught about the 
bank a number of young yellowfin tuna. On 
June 1 an adult male of the labrid Bodianus 
diplotaenius (Gill) was caught on the shoalest 
part of the bank (it was identified from a 
kodachrome). Many sharks, including some 
hammerheads, Sphyrna sp., were seen, to con- 
firm the reports that sharks abound here. On 
June 5 one wahoo, Acanthocyhium solandri 
Cuvier, was caught, and several mantas, pre- 
sumably Manta hamiltoni (Newman), were 
seen. 
Further information on other fishes that 
live over and about this bank comes from an 
initial examination of stomach contents of 
yellowfin tuna, collected there for the Inter- 
American Tropical Tuna Commission and 
now being analyzed by the staff of the Com- 
mission. Young to half-grown specimens of 
the spiny trunkfish, Lactoria dtaphana (Bloch 
and Schneider), constitute a notably high 
proportion of the food. Some stomachs are 
filled with this bony creature, which else- 
where has been found to be eaten by this 
tuna. This trunkfish ranges very widely 
through tropical regions, and even, on oc- 
casions, as far northward as California. A 
sample (SIO 58-56) from the stomach of a 
tuna caught on this bank comprises 487 speci- 
mens of this trunkfish, 13 to 44 mm. in stand- 
ard length. Another lot (SIO 58-57) comprises 
7 specimens, of similar size. One tuna con- 
tained a large young triggerfish (SIO 58-54) 
of the common, wide-ranging, more or less 
pelagic species Xanthichthys lineopunctatusillol- 
lard); its standard length is 52 mm. Remains 
313 
of flying fish of undetermined species also 
occur in the tuna stomachs. 
A thorough study of the fish fauna of 
Stranger Bank is much to be desired, espe- 
cially in view of the thorough analysis of the 
Revillagigedo fish fauna being conducted by 
Boyd W. Walker and associates. 
For information and material on the fishes 
and fisheries of this bank I am indebted to 
Bell M. Shimada and Franklin G. Alverson of 
the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commis- 
sion and to Wilbert M. Chapman of the 
American Tunaboat Association. 
Pterygotrigla picta (Gunther) on a Guyot 
far off Chile 
On January 26, 1958, a triglid fish (gurnard 
or sea robin) of considerable zoogeographical 
interest was captured incidentally in a rock 
dredge being hauled at a depth of 129 fathoms 
on a guyot rising from an extensive ridge in 
the southeastern Pacific. It was preserved by 
Robert H. Parker on the research ship 
"Spencer F. Baird” of Scripps Institution of 
Oceanography, on the I. G. Y. Downwind 
Expedition (Station 73; SIO 58-42). This un- 
named guyot is at Lat. 25° 44' S., Long. 
85° 25' W., which is about 800 miles off the 
Chilean coast, about 300 miles westerly from 
Isla San Felix, and nearly 600 miles northwest 
of Isla Juan Fernandez. It is in a region where 
seamounts appear to be numerous, and is on 
a submarine ridge that seems to extend west- 
ward at least to Easter Island (Eisher, 1958: 
20-25, figs. 1,8,9). 
Although the specimen is young (54 mm. 
in standard length) and was badly crushed 
posteriorly in the rock dredge, it seems identi- 
fiable as Pterygotrigla picta (Gunther). This 
species was originally very briefly described, 
but magnificently figured, by Gunther (1880: 
24-25, pi. 13, fig. A), as Trigla picta, on the 
basis of a 10.5-inch specimen collected by the 
"Challenger” on Isla Juan Fernandez, far off 
the coast of Chile. The species has been re- 
ported also from New Zealand and Australia 
(McCulloch, 1929: 393), but not from the 
