Synopsis of Biological Data on Skipjack Tuna, Katsuwonus Pelamis
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Synopsis of Biological Data on Skipjack Tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis WALTER M. MATSUMOTO,’ ROBERT A. SKILLMAN,’ and ANDREW E. DIZON’ INTRODUCTION 1 IDENTITY There has been a major expansion in the world’s skipjack 1. I Nomenclature tuna, Karsuwonus pelamis, fisheries in the past decade or so with the catch increasing better than twofold, from 320,000 1.1 I Valid name metric tons (t) in 1969 to 699,000 t in 1979. While catches in- creased in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the most strik- Kutsuwonus pelamis (Linnaeus 1758) ing increase has been in the western central Pacific, which in- cludes the Japanese southern water fishery and the fisheries of 1.12 ObjectiLe synoiiymy Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. In this area the catches have risen over sevenfold. from 41,500 t in 1969 to Scornberpelamis Linnaeus 1758 (original description); Osbeck 316,000 t in 1979. 1765; Bonnaterre 1788; Gmeliri 1788; Rafinesque 1810 The catch of skipjack tuna can probably be increased over Scotnber pelaniys Bloch and Schneider 1801; Kino 1810: present levels, but by how much is uncertain. To deal with the Cuvier 1829; Valenciennes 1836 rational utilization of this resource as it approaches the level of Scomher pe/uniides 1.ac;p;de 1802 full exploitation, it is imperative to have in hand all informa- Thynnus pelamis. Risso 1826; Steindachner 1868: Hoek 1904 tion concerning the biology, physiology, and various other T/iynnus vagans Lescon 1828 (original description). 1830 factors relating to the fish and fishery. Th-vnnus pdaniys. Cuvier and Valenciennes 183 I ; Temminck Synopses of biological and technical data and information and Schlegel 1842: Cantor 1850; Bleeker 1856; Ci”ut1it.r on the skipjack tuna by oceans were first compiled by Waldron 1860, 1876; Playfair and Cibthcr 1866; Day 1878; Liitken (1963) for the Pacific Ocean, Postel (1963) for the Atlantic 1880; Macleay 1881; Eigenmann and Eigenmann 1891; Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and Jones and Silas (1963) for Richard 1905; Cunningham 1910; Parona 1919 the Indian Ocean, and were presented at the Food and Pelarnvs pelam.vs. Bleeker 1862, 1865 Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)-spon- OrcXnnu.5 pelun?.vs. Poey 1868; Goode and Bean 1879; Goode sored World Scientific Meeting on the Biology of Tunas and 1884 Related Species, 2-14 July 1962, at La Jolla, Calif. Forsbergh Eurh.vnnus pelumys. Jordan and Gilbert 1882: Carus 1893; (1980) completed a synopsis of the species for the Pacific Jouhin and Le Danois 1924 Ocean. Gymnosardu pelanits. Dresslar and Fesler 1889: Jordan and This paper reports current knowledge of the species in all Evermann 1898; Jenkins 1904; Snodgrass and Heller 1905; oceans and reviews and evaluates, where\er appropriate, the Evermann and Seale 1907; Jordan 1907; de Miranda Ribeiro results of past and recent research on the skipjack tuna 1915; Meek and Hildebrand 1923; Breder 1929; Hornell through 1980. 1935; Palnia 1941 Euth.i.nnk pelumic. Smitt 1893; Stark< 1910; Tanaka 1912; Jordan and Jordan 1922; Bizelow and Welch 1925; Fouler 1928, 1938; Herre 1932; Deraniyagala 1933; Nobre 1935: Smith 1949: de Beaufort and Chapman 1951; Bigelou and Schroeder 1953: Steinitz and Ben-Tuvia 1955: Fourmanoir 1957; Bailey et al. 1960, 1970; Collette and Gibh 1963; 1. Nakamura 1965; Robins et al. 1980 Karwwonus pelanyc. Kishinouye 1915; Frade and de Buen 1932; Le Gall 1934; Morro\\ 1957 GymnosUrdu pelarnys. Thompson 1918; Barnard 1925 harciin~onirspr/uint\. Ki\hinouye 1923; de Buen 1926, 1930, Stearn 1948: Smith 1949; Frarer-Brunner 1950; de Beaufort 1935, 1958; Jordan et ai. 1930: SoIdato\ arid Lindberg 1930: and Chapman 1951; Rivas 1951; Jones and Silas 1960, 1963, klirenbaurn 1936; Scale 1940; Serventy 1941; God\il and 1964; Schultz 1960; Collette and Gibbs 1963; Waldron 1963; Bqcri 1944: Nichols and Murphy 1944: Fonler 1945; La- I. Nakamura 1965; Gibbs and Collettc 1967: Collette and hlonte 1945; Clcmen\ and M'ilby 1946: Hildebrand 1946; Chao 1975; Collette 1978). Frater-Brunner (1950) recognized Brock 1949; Ri\a\ 1949. 1951: Herre 1953; Belloc 1955: only the subfamilies Gasterochimatinae and Scombrinae. I. Munro 1955, 195X: Brigs\ 1960; Jones and Silac 1960, 1963, Nakamura (1965) added a third subfamily, Thunninae, but 1964; ScIiuIt7 1960; Postel 1963. 1964: Talbot 1964; Whit- Colletre and Chao (1975) reberted to tun subfamilies, as pro- ley 1964; Williams 1964; Collette 1978 posed by Fraser-Brunner, and split the Scombrinae into two Kur.su~vonirsi'qqunr. Jordan et al. 1930; Barnhart 1936; Ohada tribes, placing Scombrini (the more primitive mackerels) and and Matsubara 1938: Fomler 1949 Scomberomorini (the Spanish mackerels) in one group and Karsuwonis pelumis. Herre 1933 (typographical error?] Sardini (the bonito,) and Thunnini in the other (Fig. I). Eur/?.vnnw (Kut.wwonur)prlaniis. Fraser-Brunner 1950; Men- Opinion on the generic name also has differed over the dis 1954: Bini and Tortonese 1955: Williams 1956; Scaccini years and the differences continue to this day. Jordan and et al. 1975 Gilbert (1882) credit Liltken for establishing the genus Eu- rhynnus and separating alliterarus and pelamys from the other 1.2 lawnomq tunas largely on the basis of an important osteological charac- ter, the trellis formed on a portion of the abdominal vertebrae. 1.21 Affinities Kishinouye (1915) established the genus Katsuwonus and separated it from Eurhynnirs based on differences in internal Phylum Vertebrata characters. Since then many others have recognized Katsu- Subph\luni Craniata wonus (de Buen 1930; Jordan et al. 1930; Herre 1932; Ser- Superclas\ Gnatlio\tornata venty 1941; Godsil and Byers 1944; Clernens and Wilby 1946; Series Pi\ce\ Hildebrand 1946: Rivas 1951; Godsil 1954; Belloc 1955; Class Teleostoini Munro 1955; Briggs 1960; Gosline and Brock 1960; Jones Sub&\\ Actinopterkgii and Silas 1960; Schultz 1960; Postel 1964; Talbot 1964; Whit- Ordcr Pcrcifornie5 ley 1964; Zharov 1967; Collette and Chao 1975; Collette Suborder Sconibroidei 1978). Family Sconibridac Fraser-Brunner (1950), in his attempt to maintain the Subfaniil) Sconibrinae Family Scombridae as a natural unit, synonymized Katsu- Tribe Thunnini wonus with Euthynnu~,as did other investigators (de Beaufort <;cnti? Ku/sir~wnir.s and Chapman 1921: Bigelou and Schroeder 1953; Mendis Species pe/uinr< 1954; Bini and Tortonese 1955: Williams 1956; Bailey et al. The Family Scombridae was defined by Regan (1909) and further clarified by Starks (1910), uho divided it into fi\e sub- families: Scombrinae. Scomberomorinae, Acanthocybinae, Sardinac, and Thunninae. Kishinouye (19 15) divided Regan's Sconihridae into three Families: Scombridae, Cybiidae, and Thunnidae. He subsequently (1917) split Thunnidae into trio Families. Thunnidae and Katsu\+onidae, and placed both into a ne\sly erected Order Plecostei on the basis of their \$ell- debeloped s~bct~taiieous\. ular system. Takahashi (1324), however, rejected Kishinouye's new order, pointing out that the subcutaneous vascular syrtem was not unique to tunas, but \vas also found in swordfish, Xiphius pludius; dolphin, Cor-vphaena hippurus: stargarer, Gnathapus elonparus; goby, Aprocryples chmensir; and puffer, Sphoeroides ruhriceps. These two views have persisted to the present. Berg (1940) followed Kishinouye in placing the tunas into a single Family Thunnidae and renamed the Order Thunni- formes. He relegated Katsuuonidae to subfamily \tatus as Auzidini. Some investigators retained the Family Thunnidae, uliilc rele_eating Kattuuonidae to generic status (Fomler 1945: Herre 1953; Morrow 1954, 1957; Munro 1955). Zharoc (1967) divided the Thunnidae into two subfamilies, Thunninae and Kat\u\voninae, \I hile others recognized the Families Thunni- dae and Kat\u\\onidae (Jordan and Hubbs 1925; Barnhart 1936: Kamohara 1941; tvlorice 1953; Godsil 1954). Most other investigators followed Regan and Stark's classi- fication, maintaining the Family Scombridae as a natural unit Figure I.--The wbfamilir\. tribe,. and genera of the Sromhridsc tfnim C'allrllr (Barnard 1925: Fo\\ler 1928; Hildebrand 1946; Schultz and 2nd C'hm IY7Sl. 1960, 1970; Collette and Gibbs 1963; I. Nakamura 1965; E. linearus and Ausis rhazard \bere about as close to each Robins et al. 1980). Of those who relied heavily upon internal other as were K. pelamis to E. uffinis, but somewhat more characters, I. Nakamura (1965) supported his choice on the distantly related to T. albucures, and, therefore, to thc I(. basis that in both genera the atlas was not reduced in size pelamis-E. uffinis group. The authors indicated that their re- and the alisphenoids did not meet ~entrallyat the median line. sults showed little reason for separating Kutsuwonus from Robins et al. (1980), noting that the structure of the bony Euthynnus. While this reems to be true when coniidering shelf that divides the anterior six vertebrae into dorsal and only E. affinrs, the distance between ufjrinir and lineurus and ventral portions is shared by Auxis, Euthynnus, and Karsu- the latter’s close relationship with A. thoiurd suggest5 other- wonus only, suggested that the latter was more intimately re- wise. lated to Eurhynnus than to Thunnus. We thus agree with Collette’s (1978) view that placing Because of the close relationship of these t%ogenera, simi- Katsuwonus in synonymy with Eurhynnus \\odd obscure the larities in a number of characters such as noted abobe, are relationships of Eurhynnus with Auxis and Karsuwonus with expected; however, the differences pointed out by Kishinouye Thunnus. (1923), Godsil and Byers (1944), Godsil (1954), and Collette (1978) seem large enough to justify their separation. These 1.22 Taxonomic status differences include the following: The name pelamis was established by Linnaeus in 1758 and 1) The dorsal and ventral branches of the cutaneous artery was accepted by workers throughout the remainder of the in Karsuwonus are about equally developed, insread of 18th century. Bloch and Schneider (1801) used the name having the ventral branch short and dendritic as in pelamys and most workers also used this name in the 1800’s Eurhynn us. and early 1900’s.