James C. Tyler

Phylogeny and biogeography of the extant species of triplespine fishes (Triacanthidae, Tetraodontiformes)

A new phylogenetic hypothesis for the living species of triplespine fishes of the Indo‐Western Pacific family Triacanthidae (Tetraodontiformes, Teleostei) is proposed. A data set of 55 morphological characters (34 osteological and 21 morphometric) was constructed. A cladistic analysis of the osteological data set yielded a single most‐parsimonious tree. This cladogram does not support the monophyly of one of the four genera, Tripodichthys, but Bremer values for this analysis are low. The osteological data set was then combined with a data set of 21 morphometric characters that had previously been used to diagnose the four genera. The analysis of the combined data set produced the same phylogenetic hypothesis, but with greater nodal support. The biogeographical distribution of the living species is then interpreted with the use of this new phylogenetic information.

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEA FAN BLENNY, EMBLEMARIOPSIS PRICEI (TELEOSTEI: CHAENOPSIDAE), IN THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN

Tyler, James C, and Diane M. Tyler. Natural History of the Sea Fan Blenny, Emblemariopsis pricei (Teleostei: Chaenopsidae), in the Western Caribbean. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, number 601, 24 pages, 7 figures, color frontispiece, 6 tables, 1999.—The chaenopsid blenny Emblemariopsis pricei Greenfield presently is known only from waters off Belize and Honduras, where it occurs at depths of 1 to 30 m. It is unusual among Atlantic Ocean fishes in partitioning its microhabitat usage according to sex and age. During daylight, females, nonbreeding males, and immatures are found mostly on the surface of soft-coral sea fans {Gorgonia ventalina Linnaeus), whereas breeding males occupy cavities in live scleractinian corals. The cavities are the remains of serpulid worm (Spirobranchus giganteus (Pallas)) tubes, which are most often found in elkhorn coral (Acroporapalmata (Lamarck)), but which also are found in species of several genera of globose mound corals. Breeding males are dark-headed and range from 17.5 to 28.6 mm standard length (SL). Adult females, adult nonbreeding males, and immatures are semitransparent; mature females attain up to 19.6 mm SL and nonbreeding males up to 24.3 mm SL. Approximately one in eight sea fans at a study reef at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, has a blenny present. Pale adult males, presumably seeking tube cavities to occupy, frequently are found on the surface of live coral, especially in the vicinity of cavities occupied by dark-headed males. Pale males immediately enter any tube cavities that become vacant when resident dark-headed males are removed. Upon occupation, pale males turn dark headed overnight, although the full complement of dark pigment that remains evident in preserved specimens takes up to 10 days to develop. Females deposit their eggs in the tube cavities, where the resident breeding male fertilizes and incubates them. Mature females have 21 to 27 large ovarian eggs, and most tube cavities contain an average of about 300 eggs in various stages of development from multiple spawning deposits. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institutions annual report, Annals of the Smithsonian Institution. SERIES COVER DESIGN: The coral Montastrea cavernosa (Linnaeus). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tyler, James C , 1935Natural history of the sea fan blenny, Emblemariopsis pricei (Teleostei: Chaenopsidae), in the western Caribbean / James C. Tyler and Diane M. Tyler. p. cm. — (Smithsonian contributions to zoology ; no. 601) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Emblemariopsis pricei. I. Tyler, Diane M. II. Title. III. Series. QL1.S54 no. 601 [QL638.C4] 590 s—dc21 [597.77] 99-20380

A developmentally “tail-less” adult cowfish, Lactoria cornuta, from Oman (Ostraciidae, Tetraodontiformes)

Abstract A 145 mm SL specimen of the ostraciid Longhorn Cowfish, Lactoria cornuta (Linnaeus, 1758), collected along the coast of Oman, has only small rudiments of the caudal fin and a much shortened caudal peduncle in which the posteriormost vertebrae are either abnormally developed or fused. The otoliths are too deteriorated to allow aging, but the gonads are mature, and we presume that an adult specimen of this size is several years old. Remarkably, this “tail-less” specimen survived without a functional caudal peduncle and caudal fin, even though the long caudal fin in ostraciid fishes is the main source of the rapid propulsion required for predator avoidance. The anatomical peculiarities of the rudimentary termination of the vertebral column and caudal fin are described and illustrated. We also comment on the potential evolutionary implications of such abnormalities.

A new species of the genus Aulorhamphus (Gasterosteiformes: Aulorhamphidae) from the Eocene of the Caucasus in southwestern Russia

ABSTRACT A new species of the aulorhamphid fish genus †Aulorhamphus, A. caucasicus, is described from the Middle Eocene of Russia (Kuma Horizon, North Caucasus) based on six imprints (five with counterparts) of diminutive specimens. Aulorhamphus previously has been known only from the Middle Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca), where it is represented by two species, A. bolcensis and A. capellinii.