Fish Fauna of Johnston Is. — Gosline 
443 
difficult to write a paper that does not com- 
mit the same error and is still sufficiently brief 
to be publishable. The present account at- 
tempts a compromise between these two 
pitfalls. Species which are sufficiently distinct 
to be readily recognizable, about which there 
are at present no zoological or nomenclatorial 
questions, and whose presence at Johnston 
there is no zoogeographic reason to doubt, 
have been recorded by name only. For the 
others an attempt has been made to give the 
diagnostic characters of the Johnston spec- 
imens on the basis of which the species iden- 
tification was made. It is clearly recognized 
that this method only alleviates, and by no 
means eliminates, the faults of recording spe- 
cies by name only. 
This section contains notes on the classifi- 
cation of certain species of Uropterygius, 
Belone, Pseudamiops , Scams , and Scorpaena as 
well as the records of Johnston fishes. Families 
are listed in "phylogenetic sequence”; genera 
and species within the family are taken up 
alphabetically. Identifications and nomen- 
clature follow Schultz, et al. ( op . cit.) where 
possible, and various authors for the remain- 
ing species. All lengths given in millimeters 
are standard lengths; total lengths are ex- 
pressed in inches. 
MYLIOBATIDAE 
*Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen) 
Fowler and Ball, 1925, 1 spec.; Halstead 
and Bunker, 1954, 1 spec. 
SYNODONTIDAE 
Saurida gracilis (Quoy and Gaimard) 
5 specs., 69-110 mm., 1951; 1 spec., Brock, 
1948. 
A double band of teeth on each side of the 
palate; inner rays of pelvic fins contained 
about 1.2 times in the length of the outermost 
rays. 
Synodus binotatus Schultz 
3 specs., 46-77 mm., 1951. 
A single row of teeth on each side of 
palate; three and a half scale rows between 
the lateral line and the dorsal origin; peri- 
toneum pale; no black spot on opercle but 
a dark mark on tip of snout and three dark 
rings on the back behind the dorsal fin; 9 
anal rays; tips of first dorsal rays not reaching 
tips of succeeding rays when the fin is de- 
pressed; dorsal origin equidistant from tip of 
snout and origin of adipose; tips of central 
caudal rays not black (cf., Schultz, et al ., 
1953: 30, 31). 
CONGRIDAE 
Conger noordziekii Bleeker 
1 spec., 255 mm., 1951. 
Origin of dorsal over anterior third of the 
depressed pectorals; a dark longitudinal line 
extending below and behind eye. 
OPHICHTHIDAE 
Brachysomophis sauropsis Schultz 
1 spec., 362 mm., 1951. 
As compared with a 1070 mm. specimen of 
Brachysomophis henshawi from Hawaii, the 
Johnston specimen differs in having the dis- 
tance from the tip of snout to the posterior 
border of the eye contained 9 times in the 
head length to gill openings instead of 7.2 
times, in having the dorsal and anal fins low 
(the anal does not even extend above the 
groove that encloses it) and light in colora- 
tion instead of well- developed and with the 
dorsal black-based; in having the pores of the 
head and body not enclosed in dark areas; 
and in having no dark bands either along 
the mid-dorsal line or along the lateral line 
area of the sides. The Johnston specimen 
agrees in every way with Schultz’s original 
description of Brachysomophis sauropsis. 
Leiuranus semicinctus (Lay and Bennett) 
6 specs., 133-227 mm., 1951. Fowler and 
Ball, 1925, 3 specs. 
Ovate black saddles about equal in max- 
imum width to the interspaces between them. 
Leptenchelys labialis (Seale) 
2 specs., 121-134 mm., 1951. 
