Record of a Lancelet from Hawaii 
L. G. Eldredge 1 
The species Epigonichthys maldivensis (For- 
ster Cooper, 1903) was originally described 
from 45 Maidive Island specimens as Hetero- 
pleuron maldivense. Parker (1904) also re- 
corded 12 other specimens from the same island 
group. Both Forster Cooper’s and Parker’s 
specimens were collected from depths of 15-20 
fathoms. No further specimens have been 
found. The generic status is somewhat confused, 
for in Franz’s (1922) generic revision of the 
cephalochordates, the species appears as Asym- 
metron maldivense. However, in the same year 
Hubbs (1922) listed the species in a world- 
wide review of the group as Epigonichthys mal- 
divensis , establishing it in his asymmetrical- 
form family, Epigonichthyidae. (In neither 
paper is reference given to the other one.) 
The single specimen from Hawaii was col- 
lected alive by R. E. Johannes and the author 
via the "Pele” dredge through coarse sand off 
Barber’s Point, Oahu, at a depth of 16-20 
fathoms on March 18, 1962. This report con- 
stitutes the first record of a lancelet (amphi- 
oxus) in Hawaiian waters. 
With two exceptions its characteristic mea- 
surements fall within the ranges of Forster 
Cooper’s specimens as analyzed by Punnett 
(1903) as well as within those given by Franz 
(1922), who used a combination of the Forster 
Cooper-Punnett and the Parker characteristics. 
The following table compares the characteristics 
of these specimens. 
The two features which differ from those 
previously described are the greater number of 
myotomes from the anus to the tip of the tail, 
and the smaller number of gonads, a peculiarity 
1 Department of Biology, College of Guam, Agana, 
Guam. Manuscript received April 3, 1967. 
CHARACTER 
PUNNETT 
(1903) 
FRANZ 
(1922) 
OAHU 
SPEC. 
Length (mm) 
18-30 
16-30 
23 
No. Myotomes 
Total 
70-76 
70-76 
73 
Head to atriopore 
42-46 
45 
43 
Atriopore to anus 
15-17 
16 
15 
Anus to tip of tail 
11-14 
12 
15 
Gonads 
23-30 
25 
18 
which might be explained by the intermittent 
location of the 18 gonads lying irregularly 
beneath at least 22 myotomes. Forster Cooper’s 
original figure shows what looks like at least 
one gonad per myotome. 
REFERENCES 
Forster Cooper, C. 1903. Cephalochorda. I. 
Systematic and anatomical account, pp. 347- 
360. In: J. S. Gardiner, ed., The Fauna and 
Geography of the Maidive and Laccadive 
Archipelagoes, Vol. 1. Cambridge Univ. 
Press. 
Franz, V. 1922. Systematische Revision der 
Akranier. Jena Z. Naturwiss. 58:369-452. 
Hubbs, C. L. 1922. A list of the lancelets of 
the world with diagnoses of five new species 
of Branchiostoma. Occas. Pap. Mus. Zook 
Univ. Mich. 105:1-16. 
Parker, G. H. 1904. Maidive cephalochordates 
with the description of a new species from 
Florida. Bulk Mus. Comp. Zook 46(2) :39- 
52. 
Punnett, R. C. 1903. Cephalochorda. II. Note 
on meristic variation in the group, pp. 361- 
367. In: J. S. Gardiner, ed., The Fauna and 
Geography of the Maidive and Laccadive 
Archipelagoes, Vol. 1. Cambridge Univ. 
Press. 
564 
