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Of, the Narlins, Genus Makaira

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Of, the Narlins, Genus Makaira :A REVIEW ANDDREVISION OF, THE NARLINS, GENUS MAKAIRA FA&NCESCA K. LAMONTE BULLETIN, OF THEf AMERICAN MUSEUM^OF NATURAL HISTORY -VOLUME 107 ARTICLEt 3 NEW YORkK 195 A REVIEW AND REVISION OF THE MARLINS, GENUS MAKAIRA A REVIEW AND REVISION OF THE MARLINS, GENUS MAKAIRA FRANCESCA R. LAMONTE Associate Curator of Fishes Department of Fishes and Aquatic Biology BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME 107: ARTICLE 3 NEW YORK: 1955 BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 107, article 3, pages 319-358, plates 4-12, table 1 Issued November 30, 1955 Price: $1.00 a copy INTRODUCTION THE OBJECT of the present paper is to review market, often in the midst of an auction. In the literature on Makaira and, based on the Misaki, especially, the difficulties were con- literature and on field material, to establish siderable as the fishermen feared that our a stable taxonomy for the genus and its spe- strange incantations might in some way in- cies. This constitutes a preliminary paper for jure these large and costly fishes" (p. 54). the author's section on speared fishes in In addition, the Jordan and Evermann "Fishes of the western North Atlantic"' and paper contains a great many errors of trans- a discussion of the species that are extra- lation and transcription, contradictory state- limital in that series of publications. ments, and keys to which features with no The study of Makaira and its related gen- apparent source have been added. However, era has always presented physical difficulties the paper cannot be completely ignored because of the size of these fishes and the dif- taxonomically. ficulty of preserving and shipping them. In the present paper, distribution is listed Many type species have been based on photo- wherever it has been confirmed or constantly graphs or on specimens hastily examined in a rumored. In most localities marlins are not market; others are mounts, some of which commercially sought, and for this reason, have been greatly distorted by inexpert taxi- and because of the general difficulty in land- dermists. ing and handling them, there undoubtedly re- In localities where marlins are taken only main many geographical localities, and possi- by anglers, few specimens can be retained or bly depths, in which marlins occur but which even thoroughly examined by scientific work- as yet have been unobserved. ers, because the skins, head, and fins must I wish to express my gratitude for help in be kept in condition for mounting. When the securing and handling specimens, and for catch is commercial or can be eaten, the fish other generously given cooperation, to Dr. is often "dressed" at sea and arrives at the Charles M. Breder, Jr., Dr. Vernon E. Brock, dock without head, fins, or viscera. Elsewhere Mr. Roy W. Cann, Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, it is impossible to keep a specimen a sufficient Dr. Antonio Cordeiro, Dr. Fernando de length of time for anything but a most super- Buen, Dr. and Mrs. Roy B. Dean, Dr. ficial study, because of the danger of spoiling William I. Follett, Mr. Gilberto Guajardo, it as food. Dr. Yoshio Hiyama, Colonel John K. Howard, No single investigator has yet been able to Dr. Carl L. Hubbs, Mr. and Mrs. Russ Kline, cover all the known Makaira range, and Prof. T. P. Koh, Mr. and Mrs. Michael to examine only one or Lerner, Dr. Etienne Loppe, Dr. G. E. Maul, many have been able Mr. two specimens. Authors living in widely Dr. James Morrow, Mr. Jiro Murase, separated parts of the world have worked in- John T. Nichols, Mr. Luis R. Rivas, Dr. dependently on the genus, often with insuf- William F. Royce, Commander Kenneth and usually Strickler, the Ocean City Marlin Club of ficient literature at their disposal of the Inter- with an insufficient number of specimens. Maryland, and the committees All these circumstances have contributed national Light Tackle Sailfish tournaments. heavily to taxonomic errors, greatly increased by Jordan and Evermann's 1926 paper, the FIELD MATERIAL work most available in the past. Jordan and The field material on which keys and other Evermann themselves state that "the pre- portions of the present paper are based was lixninary work which makes up this paper is all examined on the grounds when freshly done almost entirely on a basis of photo- caught, and is as follows: graphs" (p. 36), and that "the measurements Makaira ampla: Specimens taken in 1937 in this and other species [of Makaira] are not off Bimini, Bahama Islands, and examined very exact, they having been taken in the by G. M. Conrad and F. LaMonte, and on the same grounds from 1947 to 1951, ex- I Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale Uni- F. LaMonte. versity, New Haven, Connecticut. amined by 323 324 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 107 Makaira albida: Specimens taken off Acapulco, Mexico, in 1948 and 1949, ex- Bimini in 1950 and 1951, and off Ocean City, amined by F. LaMonte. Maryland, in 1953, examined by F. LaMonte. Makaira mitsukurii: Taken off Australia Makaira mazara: Specimens taken in Aus- and New Zealand in 1939, examined by Greg- tralia and New Zealand in 1939, examined ory and Conrad, and off Talara, Peru, and by Gregory and Conrad, and off Acapulco, Tocopilla and Iquique, Chile, in 1940 and Mexico, in 1948, 1949, and 1952, examined examined by F. LaMonte. by F. LaMonte. In all species, fishes of comparable sizes Makaira mazara takitiensis: Taken off and of both sexes were available. SYSTEMATICS AND DESCRIPTIONS CLASS PISCES TYPE, AND ONLY SPECIES: Xiphias gladius SUBCLASS TELEOSTEI Linnaeus, 1758. The swordfish is easily distinguished by its ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII flat, heavy sword, the absence of scales and SUBORDER XIPHIIFORMES' pelvic fins, and the single keel on its caudal KEY TO TEE GENERA OF THE peduncle. In color it varies from bronze XIPHIIFORMES above and whitish below to grayish blue or black above and light below. It is widely dis- I. No pelvic bones or pelvic fins. Neural spines occurrences as fol- not expanded or flattened; haemal spines tributed, with confirmed slightly expanded distally. Air bladder sim- lows: Japan, Korea, Formosa, Philippine Is- ple. Adults scaleless. One keel on either side lands, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian of the caudal peduncle; spear slightly Islands, from California to Peru and Chile crowned above, flat beneath, smooth, long, (to slightly south of Caldera), from New- heavy . Xiphias (swordfish) foundland south to Cuba, Rochedos do Sao II. Neural and haemal spines flattened and much Paulo, Iceland, Baltic Sea, from Scandinavia expanded. Pelvics present.2 Air bladder to Portugal and south along the west African sacculate. Adults scaled. Two keels on either coast to Senegal, off the Azores and the Ca- side of the caudal peduncle. Spear cylindri- nary Islands, through the Strait of Gibraltar cal, diminishing to a point at its end, rugose. into the Mediterranean and through the Bos- A. Pectorals long or moderately long; dorsal Black fin comparatively high anteriorly, di- porus to the Sea of Marmora and the minishing rapidly in height posteri- Sea, from the Cape Province of Africa around orly .Makaira (marlin) the tip and north to Durban, off Madagascar, AA. Pectorals short. R6union Island. a. Dorsal fin only slightly higher an- This is an important food fish and the ob- teriorly, not falcate, maintaining ject of large commercial fisheries. an even height to its end. Pec- Free eggs, larvae, and juveniles are well toral fins very short and set low known off Messina, where the spawning fish on the sides . .. swim into the large stationary tuna nets, and Tetrapturus (spearfish) have been found in other localities.4 aa. Dorsal fin sail-like, rising rapidly to a central height of more than FAMrLY ISTIOPHORIDAE double that of the body below it TETRAPTURUS RAFINESQUE, 1810 Istiophorus (sailfish) SPEARFISH, FURAKAJIKi (IN JAPANESE) DISCUSSION OF GENERA RELATED Tetrapturus RAFINESQUE-ScHmALTZ, 1810, Ca- TO MAKAIRA3 ratteri di alcuni nuovi generi e nuove specie di FAMILY XIPHIDAE animali. .. della Sicilia, pp. 54-55, pl. 1, fig. 1; Sicily. 1758 XIPHIAS LINNAEUS, TYPE SPECIES: Tetrapturus belone Rafin- SWORDFISH, BROADBILL, MEKAJIKI (IN esque, 1810. JAPANESE) Tetrapturus can be distinguished from Xiphias LINNAEUS, 1758, Systema naturae, ed. Makaira by its much more slender body, 10, p. 248; "In oceano Europae." shorter spear, shorter pectorals, lower-lobed 1 Only recent forms are included. The fossils Palaeo- and evenly high dorsal, and smaller caudal rhynchzus, Blochius, and Acestrus have been assigned to span. In color, it resembles M. albida. the Suborder Xiphiiformes by various authors. Herre and Herald 2 The very fragile pelvic fins of marlin, sailfish, and 4Arata (1954), Beebe (1941), (1950), LaMonte (1944), LaMonte and Marcy (1941), spearfish are more often injured or missing than not by Sella the fish are landed, which accounts for figures Nakamura (1949), Sanzo (1910, 1922, 1930), the time obvi- (1911), and Voss (1953). Nakamura (1949) refers to a and descriptions that omit these fins, although H., for the with paper not available to me: Nakamura, 1935-1936, ously intended genera pelvics. "Larval states of shorefishes appearing in the vicinity of 3 Synonymy of the related genera and their species Yoshokukai Shi 5, pages 191- will appear in a subsequent paper. We have had no field Ominato (parts 12, 14). material of Tetraptsurus. 195; 6 pages. 133-139" (sic). 325 326 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 107 Nakamura (1949, p. 38) says that in this toire naturelle des poissons, vol. 3, pp. 374-375. genus the gonads are asymmetrical, as op- Istiophorus LACtPPDE, 1855, Histoire naturelle posed to those of Makaira, in which they are de Lac6p6de comprenant les cetaces.
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