Seamounts and Offshore Banks — -Hubbs 
important species that is accorded a range 
from New Zealand and Australia to Japan 
(see Matsubara and Hiyama, 1932: 5-7, fig. 
1). Like Pterygotrigla, Chelidonkhthys is un- 
known in Chile. Its occurrence on Juan Fer- 
nandez parallels that of Pterygotrigla picta, and 
it may be predicted that Chelidonkhthys will be 
found on seamounts, banks, or islands be- 
tween Juan Fernandez and New Zealand. 
Both Pterygotrigla and Chelidonkhthys belong 
to a distributional category that may be classi- 
fied as antitropical Indo-Pacific, and contrast 
sharply with the American triglids {Prionotus 
and the derived Bellator). Comparison of a 
specimen of P.picta from Islajuan Fernandez 
(an adult 340 mm. in standard length collected 
by the Mellon Expedition in Bahia Cumber- 
land on February 28, 1936) with specimens 
of Chelidonkhthys kumu from Japan discloses 
many differences. The row of keeled scales 
along the entire dorsal base is replaced by 
greatly enlarged flat bucklers along the base 
of the spinous dorsal only. P. picta differs 
further from C. kimu in a feature of the 
lateral line, which ends simply, immediately 
beyond the caudal base, instead of being 
forked and continued as two or three lines 
across the caudal fin. The head is much larger, 
and the body is much more contracted at 
the base of the caudal fin, which is sharply 
forked rather than merely emarginate. The 
orbital rim is spineless, but the opercular, 
nuchal, and humeral spines are greatly en- 
larged. The nape, in advance of the greatly 
enlarged buckler surrounding the first dorsal 
spine, is scaleless rather than scaly. The teeth 
are almost shagreenlike; those of the lower 
jaw are deflected outward over the anterior 
edge of the lower lip. The vomerine teeth are 
in an oval rather than a broadly V-shaped 
patch. Most of these differences show in the 
figures reproduced by McCulloch (1922: 119, 
pL39). 
NEED FOR FURTHER STUDIES 
These brief notes tend to show that great 
scientific as well as commercial importance 
315 
may be attached to a study of the faunas of 
the many banks and seamounts that rise 
toward the surface from the depths of the 
Pacific Ocean. Many and perhaps most of 
these structures seem capped and surrounded 
by productive water. The spectacular take of 
tuna on the Stranger, or Hurricane, Bank has 
been mentioned. Milner B. Schaefer, director 
of research for the Inter-American Tropical 
Tuna Commission, has assured me that good 
catches have been made about other banks 
and even about seamounts that nowhere 
closely approach the surface. Henry W. 
Menard of the Institute of Marine Resources, 
University of California, leading student of 
seamounts, tells me that he has obtained 
strong field indications, from echograms, that 
large objects (presumably fish or giant squid) 
form a halo around and far above many sea- 
mounts between California and Hawaii. It 
seems highly probable, as is stated in the in- 
troduction, that the submarine mountains, 
even those that are isolated and deep, disturb 
the currents sufficiently to induce extensive 
upwelling. 
The benthic faunas of the banks and sea- 
mounts do not give promise of such com- 
mercial potential, but may prove of greater 
scientific interest, particularly in respect to 
zoogeography and speciation. 
REFERENCES 
Ekman, Sven. 1953. Zoogeography of the Sea. 
xiv + 417 pp., 121 figs. Sidgwick and 
Jackson, Ltd., London. 
Fisher, R. L. (Editor). 1958. Preliminary re- 
port on Expedition Downwind, University 
of California, Scripps Institution of Ocean- 
ography IGY Cruise to the southeast 
Pacific. IGY World Data Center A, Nation- 
al Academy of Sciences, IGY General 
Report Series Number 2: i-iii, 1-58, figs. 
1 - 21 . 
Follett, W. I. 1952. Annotated list of fishes 
collected by the California Academy of 
Sciences during six cruises of the U. S. S. 
