NATURAL HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA VOLUME IX THE FRESHWATER RSHES OF CHINA tJ i. t 35, J Is. CENTRAL ASIATIC EXPEDITIONS LIBRARY OF THE rNNAf^^ ^ FOR THE ^. V PEOPLE ^ < FOR ^ EDVCATION O pi* FOR ^ n SCIENCE ^ THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF CHINA CENTRAL ASIATIC EXPEDITIONS ROY CHAPMAN ANDREWS, Leader The Fresh-Water Fishes OF China BY JOHN TREADWELL NICHOLS, A.B. CURATOR OF RECENT FISHES THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY With 143 Figures in the Text, 10 Colored Plates, and 1 Map NATURAL HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA VOLUME IX RUTH TYLER, M.A., Editor THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY F. TRUBEE DAVISON, President NEW YORK 1943 THE FRESH-WATER FISRES OF CnilVA Copyright, 1943 by The American Museum of Natural History Published December 30, 1943 First Edition All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. Made in the United States of America. PREFACE The Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History have brought together general collections of fresh-water fishes from representative lo- calities in China. "These make up what is probably the most nearly adequate representation of such fishes that has been assembled to date, and with its aid it is possible to obtain a fair idea of the fauna as a whole, which in the last analysis will probably be found to comprise some 500 forms. This supposes that even in the best known areas a few undescribed species still await discovery, and that close study of large series of specimens of various variable and difficult groups, from different parts of China, will lead to the recognition of a number of new forms well in excess of the number of such which will doubtless be found to be merely nomi- nal" (Nichols, in Andrews, R. C, 1932, Natural History of Central Asia, I, p. 597). This is primarily a general report on the American Museum collections of Chinese fresh-water fishes. It also aims to be a comprehensive review of the fresh- water fishes of China proper, outlying territories such as Manchuria and Mongolia not being included. No attempt has been made to include marine species, or brack- ish-water species with marine affinities, though such may at times occur in fresh water. In so far as possible, all recent literature has been studied and carefully considered to, and including, the year 1934 (see beyond). The last few years before the present war witnessed much active interest in systematic ichthyology in China; in stimulating this interest the series of prelimi- nary papers issued by the American Museum can presumably claim a share. We now aim to acquaint the several workers in this field more fully with the extent of our collections and the conclusions to which they lead. It is also hoped that the present volume will serve as a "handbook" to the subject. To review briefly the sources of the principal material examined in preparing this report, the first small collections of Chinese fresh-water fishes to reach the American Museum were obtained from the Reverend John Graham in Yunnan, and by Doctor H. R. Caldwell in Fukien, and reported on in 1918. Doctor Caldwell later sent in more extensive collections from the neighborhood of Yenping. In the winter of 1921-1922, Mr. Clifford H. Pope spent three months at Huping, Tungting Lake, Hunan, and nine months in 1922 and 1923 near Nodoa on vi PREFACE Hainan Island, making comprehensive collections of the fish faunas of central and of southern China at these localities, respectively. This material is the most exten- sive that we have had for study. At other times Mr. Pope obtained lesser collec- tions from various localities in Chihli, Suiyuan in Anhwei, Shansi, Shantung, and Fukien. To him belongs the credit for assembling a major part of our material. The material from Chihli and Anhwei was reported on by Mr. Henry W. Fowler of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1924, in a paper which was of great service to the writer when initiating his study of the collections as a whole. Other members of the Asiatic Expeditions collected a few fishes incidentally, notably Doctor Walter Granger in western China; some from the vicinity of Can- ton were received through the courtesy of Doctor William E. Hoffmann of Lingnan University. Preliminary papers based on these collections include a report on those from Chihli and Anhwei by Fowler (1924), on the fishes of Hainan by Nichols and Pope (1927), a provisional check-list of the fresh-water fishes of China (1928), and a series of American Museum Novitates articles describing new forms by Nichols (1925-1931, see bibliography). Acknowledgment should be made of courtesies and assistance received by Mr. Pope from Mr. George Bachman and other members of the faculty of Huping College, near Yochow, Hunan; the late Reverend William J. Leverett and asso- ciates of the American Presbyterian Mission at Nodoa, Hainan, as well as numer- ous other persons and institutions. The color plates are from sketches made under Mr. Pope's direction in the field by Mr. Wang Hao-T'ing. With the exception of one taken from "The Fishes of Hainan" (Nichols and Pope, 1927), they are repro- duced here for the first time. The text figures have been taken from preliminary papers; a few are reproduced with Mr. Fowler's permission from his report. The outline drawings from "The Fishes of Hainan" were executed by Miss Olive Otis; most of the others, by Mrs. Louise Nash and Mrs. Helen Ziska. The literature references, both in the text and the bibliography, have been painstakingly revised by Miss Ruth Tyler, the editor, and she should have credit for such completeness, uniformity, and freedom from error as they show. A consistent usage in Chinese place names could not be attempted in this vol- ume. The spelling of the authors cited has in many cases been retained. Hence the reader will find Chihli as well as the more recent equivalent, Hopei; Cochinchina as well as French Indo-China, Korea and Chosen, Manchuria and Manchukuo, Pei- ping and Peking. The map of China showing the location of places visited by mem- bers of the Asiatic Expeditions, 1921-1930 (Andrews, 1932, Natural History of Central Asia, I), and the map of later date inserted in this volume will prove useful for an orientation of Chinese provincial areas. Data on a number of the localities PREFACE vii mentioned and the collecting stations will be found in the reptile volume of this series (Pope, 1935, Natural History of Central Asia, X, pp. 491-503). The main portion of the manuscript for this volume was closed in February, 1935. Delay in securing means for publication made it advisable to examine nu- merous papers which had appeared in 1935 and .1936, very active years in Chinese ichthyology, and to embody taxonomic changes and additions therefrom in a Sup- plement, the manuscript for which was closed in May, 1938. Further unexpected delays occurred, and now that the volume is finally in the hands of the printer it seems best to let it stand as of 1938, rather than to attempt to introduce the small amount of additional material possible, which, though of interest, would give a false impression of up-to-dateness. As of 1938, it closes the pre-war period of Chinese ichthyology, of which it is a part. John Treadwell Nichols The American Museum of Natural History New York, N. Y. July, 1943 CONTENTS Preface Text Figures XXXI Plates XXXV CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION Faunal Discussion ..... Orientation of the Chinese Fish Fauna Speculation on the History of the Ostariophysi Tables of Adaptations of the Carp-like Fishes Plan of the Present Work Doubtful Species References . CHAPTER II.—SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF CHINA 15 Family Acipenseridae. Sturgeons IS Genus Acipenser Linnaeus IS Key to Chinese Acipenser IS Acipenser sinensis Gray 16 Acipenser dabryanus Dumeril 16 Genus Huso Brandt and Ratzeburg 16 Huso dauricus (Georgi) 16 Family Polyodontidae. Paddle Fishes Genus Psephurus Gunther . Psephurus gladius (Martens) Family Elopidae. Tarpons Genus Megalops Lacepede . Megalops cyprinoides (Broussonet) 18 Family Clupeidae. Herrings 18 Genus Hilsa Regan 18 Hilsa reevesii (Richardson) 18 Family Engraulidae. Anchovies 19 Genus Coilia Gray 19 Key to Chinese Fresh-Water Coilia 19 Coilia nasus Temminck and Schlegel 19 Coilia brachygnathus Kreyenberg and Pappenheim 19 CONTENTS Family Salmonidae. Salmons .... Genus Flecoglossus Temminck and Schlegel Plecoglossus altivelis Temminck and Schlegel Genus Brachymystax GUnther Brachymystax lenok (Pallas) Genus Hucho Giinther .... Hucho bleekeri Kimura Family Salangidae. Salangids .... Genus Salangichthys Bleeker Key to Chinese Salangichthys . Subgenus Protosalanx Regan . Salangichthys hyalocranius (Abbott) Subgenus Paraprotosalanx Fang Salangichthys anderssoni (Rendahl) Genus Salanx Cuvier ..... Key to Chinese Salanx .... Subgenus Hemisalanx Regan . Salanx prognalhus (Regan) Subgenus Leucosoma Gray Salanx chinensis (Osbeck) . Subgenus Salanx Cuvier Salanx cuvieri Cuvier and Valenciennes . Salanx brachyrostralis Fang Subgenus Parasalanx Regan . Salanx gracilUmus (Regan) Salanx annitae (van Dam) . Salanx acuticeps Regan Salanx longianalis (Regan) Salanx augusticeps (Regan) Family Monopteridae. Symbranch Eels Genus Fluta Bloch and Schneider . Key to Chinese Fluta alba Fluta alba xanthognatha (Richardson) . Fluta alba cincrea (Richardson) . Family Mastacembelidae. Spiny Eels Genus Mastacembelus Scopoli Key to Chinese Mastacembelus . Mastacembelus armatus undulatus McClelland Mastacembelus sinensis (Bleeker) Family Anguillidae. True Eels .... Genus Anguilla Shaw ..... Key to Chinese Anguilla .... Anguilla sinensis McClelland Anguilla japonica Temminck and Schlegel Anguilla mauritiana Bennett Family Siluridae. Catfishes .... CONTENTS XI PAGE Genus Parasilurus Bleeker . 33 Key to Chinese Parasilurus 33 Parasilurus cincreus (Dabry de Thiersant) 34 Parasilurus mento (Regan) 34 Parasilurus grahami (Regan) 34 Parasilurus asotus asotus (Linnaeus) 34 Parasilurus asotus bedjordi (Regan) 35 Parasilurus asotus longiis Wu 35 Parasilurus cochinchinensis (Cuvier and Valenciennes) 35 Parasilurus anomalus (Herre) 35 Genus Silurodon Kner ...