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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IX, October, 1955 
Apogon menesemus Jenkins 
13 specs., 67-128 mm., 1951; 1 spec., 86 
mm., Brock, 1948. 
Dorsal VII-I, 9; both margins of preopercle 
serrate; palatine teeth absent; gill rakers (in- 
cluding rudiments) 4 + 1 + 17 = 22; black 
pigmentation on caudal forming a complete 
arc. 
Apogon snyderi Jordan and Evermann 
31 specs., 32-100 mm., 1951; 2 specs., 40 
and 97 mm., Brock, 1948. As Apogon frenatus , 
at least in part, Fowler and Ball, 1925, 6 specs. 
Dorsal VII-I, 9; both margins of preopercle 
serrate; palatine teeth present; gill rakers (in- 
cluding rudiments) 4 + 1 + 13 = 18; no 
circular spot at midbase of caudal fin in 
specimens over 55 mm. but instead a dark 
bar that covers the whole fin base; in spec- 
imens 50-55 mm. a more or less well- 
delimited, round dark spot that lies above 
but touches the lateral line; stripe on sides 
not well-marked, absent in large specimens; 
serrations on anterior margin of preopercle 
reaching a larger size than those on posterior 
margin; suborbital serrations few in small 
specimens, numerous in large, but almost 
always more than 3 (cf., Lachner, in Schultz, 
etal , 1953: 436, 437). 
Apogon waikiki (Jordan and Evermann) 
3 specs., 21-36 mm., 1951. 
Dorsal VII-I, 9; no serrations on pre- 
opercle; palate toothless; lateral line com- 
plete; dorsal fin without ocellus; dorsal 
rounded, dusky at base, the tips of the outer 
rays white. 
Pseudamiops gracilicauda (Lachner) 
1 spec., 23 mm., 1951. 
Recently Smith (1954) has described the 
new genus Pseudamiops for the single new 
species P. pellucidus . In the same article (p. 
794) he erects the "provisional” genus Lach- 
neria for the species Gymnapogon gracilicauda 
Lachner. The difference between the two gen- 
era according to the descriptions is that 
Pseudamiops is scaled and the specimens on 
which Gymnapogon gracilicauda was based 
were naked. Smith suspected that the scales 
of G. gracilicauda had been rubbed off; hence 
the provisional nature of his genus Lachneria. 
The specimen from Johnston plus two Ha- 
waiian specimens agree well with Lachner’s 
description of Gymnapogon gracilicauda except 
that they are more or less scaled. However, 
as with Pseudamiops pellucidus , the scales are 
apparently highly deciduous, for none of the 
three specimens are now completely scaled. 
The chief points, aside from squamation, 
in which the Johnston and Hawaii specimens 
differ from Lachner’s description and figure 
(in Schultz, et al ., 1953: 497, 498, fig. 84) are 
the following. The present specimens have 
a very pinched-in abdominal region as though 
the fishes had been starving; the specimen 
figured by Lachner does not have this feature, 
nor does that of Pseudamiops figured by Smith. 
The longest spine of the anal and that of the 
second dorsal are about half the length of the 
succeeding soft ray, instead of about four 
fifths the length of these rays as shown in 
Lachner’s figure. The middle pectoral rays 
terminate in elongate, soft, fragile filaments. 
There seem to be at most 6 or 7 teeth on the 
vomer instead of about 20 according to Lach- 
ner (the vomerine teeth of Pseudamiops are 
reduced to one or two) . There are no weak 
spines on the operculum; two are said to be 
present in Gymnapogon gracilicauda . Finally, 
only one of the three specimens has the sys- 
tem of papillae on the head well developed; 
however, as Smith has noted the prominence 
of this character probably varies with the 
nature of preservation. 
From Pseudamiops pellucidus the Hawaiian 
and Johnston specimens differ in having one 
fewer soft anal ray and in lacking the pigment 
spots on the head. 
It may prove to be that the Hawaiian and 
Johnston material is a separate species from 
both Lachner’s Marshallese form and Smith’s 
from Africa. However, as Lachner’s material 
was in poor condition it will apparently re- 
quire comparison with better Marshallese 
