Victor G. Springer

The center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity: the Philippine Islands

SynopsisMultiple datasets show global maxima of marine biodiversity in the Indo–Malay–Philippines archipelago (IMPA). Analysis of distribution data for 2983 species reveals a pattern of richness on a finer scale and identifies a peak of marine biodiversity in the central Philippine Islands and a secondary peak between peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. This pattern is repeated in diverse habitat and higher taxa classes, most rigorously for marine shore fishes, supporting geohistorical hypotheses as the most general unifying explanations. Specific predictions based on area of overlap, area of accumulation, and area of refuge hypotheses suggest that present day eastern Indonesia, or Wallacea, should be the center of marine biodiversity. Processes suggested by these three hypotheses contribute to the diversity in this region and are also a likely explanation for the secondary center of diversity. Our study indicates, however, that there is a higher concentration of species per unit area in the Philippines than anywhere in Indonesia, including Wallacea. The Philippine center of diversity is consistent with hypotheses that this area experienced numerous vicariant and island integration events and these hypotheses warrant further testing. Special attention to marine conservation efforts in the Philippines is justified because of the identification of it as an epicenter of biodiversity and evolution.

Use and Advantages of Ethanol Solution of Alizarin Red S Dye for Staining Bone in Fishes

Abstract A solution of 75% ethyl alcohol (ETOH) and alizarin red S can be substituted for KOH-alizarin red S to stain bone. ETOH-alizarin, unlike KOH-alizarin, does not damage muscle or cartilage. ETOH-alizarin and acidified alcian blue (a cartilage stain) can be used in any order and as often as required to stain bone and cartilage in a single preparation that has not been exposed to KOH-alizarin or trypsin, remembering that the acidic effects of the alcian blue solution should be neutralized to prevent decalcification of weakly ossified elements.

Are the Indonesian and Western Indian Ocean Coelacanths Conspecific: A Prediction

It is hypothesized that the ancestor of the extant western Indian Ocean and Indonesian populations of Latimeria was continuously distributed along the deeper coasts of massed Africa–Madagascar–Eurasia in early geologic time. The collision of India with Eurasia, roughly 50 MY ago, caused the formation of the Himalayan Mountains and subsequent developement of numerous rivers. The rivers, which flow down both coasts of India, and areas even further east, deposited, and continue to deposit, great amounts of silt along both coasts of India. The siltation destroyed possible coelacanth habitats, thus isolating coelacanth populations to the west of India from those to the east and allowing them to diverge.

Chondrocranial Morphology of the Salmon Shark, Lamna ditropis, and the Porbeagle, L. nasus (Lamnidae)

Adult chondrocranial morphology is poorly documented in modern lamniform sharks. Here it is described for the two extant species of Lamna, L. nasus and L. ditropis. Several features are noted and discussed, including hypercalcification of the rostral cartilages, the ethmoidal region associated with ligamentous jaw attachments, and the configuration of the postorbital region. The small polygonal blocks of calcified cartilage (tesserae) that typically line the chondrichthyan endoskeleton are greatly thickened in the rostral bars of Lamna, forming radial columns; furthermore, concentric banding of the columnar calcification in the rostrum of L. ditropis suggests periodic accretion of new calcified tissue below the perichondrium. The postorbital region in Lamna is notable for lacking a postorbital process, and in having the supraorbital shelf continuing posteriorly as a supra-otical shelf, which extends as far as the hyomandibular fossa. The orbit in Lamna is apparently not drained in the usual elasmobranch manner (i.e., via a lateral head vein, located lateral and dorsal to the hyomandibula). Instead, the vein passes ventral and medial to the hyomandibula, via a large suborbital fenestra which also houses the orbital artery. This arrangement may be phylogenetically informative because it also occurs in other lamnids, although its wider distribution among lamniforms has yet to be determined.

Platygobiopsis akihito, New Genus and Species of Gobiid Fish from Flores, Indonesia.

Platygobiopsis akihito is described from 12 specimens 63.4-95.9 mm SL. It is most closely related toGobiopsis Steindachner, based on the presence of a pair of chin barbels and two horizontal, fleshy, papillae-bearing folds on the cheek, and the absence of vertical papillae-bearing folds on the sides of the anterior half of the head.Platygobiopsis differs most obviously from all the species Lachner and McKinney (1978, 1979) included inGobiopsis in having an exceedingly depressed head and body (both the most depressed of any gobioid), an elongate form (depth 4.5-5.8% SL), and in its dorsal- and anal-fin formulae: D. VI-I, 12, A. I, 12, which include at least one more segmented dorsal-fin ray and two more segmented anal-fin rays than is known to occur in any species ofGobiopsis.

The Gill-Arch Musculature of Protanguilla , the Morphologically Most Primitive Eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes), Compared with That of Other Putatively Primitive Extant Eels and Other Elopomorphs

The gill-arch musculature and associated aspects of the skeleton of the anguilliforms Protanguilla, Conger, Anguilla, and the synaphobranchids Synaphobranchus and Simenchelys are described, illustrated, and compared. We identify nine anguilliform synapomorphies, seven myological and two osteological and all but two reported for the first time. We also describe one myological and one osteological synapomorphy of the Anguilliformes minus Protanguilla. Our study strongly corroborates the monophyly of the Anguilliformes, which has never been seriously challenged by morphological evidence, and is also supported by molecular analyses. Furthermore, it offers additional morphological support for placing Protanguilla as the sister group of all other eels. The condition of many gill-arch skeletal and muscular features are also treated in other elopomorphs and, occasionally, osteoglossomorphs and more primitive actinopterygians. For comparison, we also include the description of the gill-arch muscles of a specialized eel species of the family Serrivomeridae and discuss analyses of its closest family relationships as indicated by several molecular studies.

Validation of the synonymy of the teleost blenniid fish species Salarias phantasticus Boulenger 1897 and Salarias anomalus Regan 1905 with Ecsenius pulcher (Murray 1887) based on DNA barcoding and morphology

As currently recognized, Ecsenius pulcher includes Salarias pulcher (type material has a banded color pattern), S. anomalus (non-banded), and S. phantasticus (banded). The color patterns are not sex linked, and no other morphological features apparently distinguish the three nominal species. The recent collection of banded and non-banded specimens of Ecsenius pulcher from Iran has provided the first tissue samples for genetic analyses. Here we review the taxonomic history of E. pulcher and its included synonyms and genetically analyze tissue samples of both color patterns. Salarias anomalus is retained as a synonym of E. pulcher because DNA barcode data suggest that they represent banded and non-banded color morphs of a single species. Furthermore, the large size of the largest type specimen of S. anomalus (herein designated as the lectotype) suggests that it belongs to E. pulcher. A single non-banded specimen from Iran is genetically distinct from E. pulcher and appears to represent an undescribed species. Salarias phantasticus is retained as a synonym of E. pulcher because the primary morphological difference between the two nominal species-presence of spots on the dorsal fin in E. pulcher and absence of those spots in S. phantasticus-is not a valid taxonomic character; rather, the spots represent galls that contain the larval stages of a parasitic crustacean. As males and females of Ecsenius species have been confused in the literature, we describe and illustrate the genital regions of both and comment on possible new blenniid synapomorphies that our investigation revealed.

Availability of Bleeker′s Atlas

Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales (Atlas of Fishes of the Dutch East Indies) by Pieter B l e e k e r the multi-volume, never-completed masterwork is available from the Smithsonian Institution Press at a special, discounted price this year. Folio format (11 3/4x 17 inches), with an average of 40 color plates in each volume, Volumes I-IX were priced at

Pacific Plate biogeography, with special reference to shorefishes

50 each. For a limited time, through the fall of 1997, they will be offered at 50% off, or

Study of the dorsal gill-arch musculature of teleostome fishes, with Special Reference to the Actinopterygii

25 per volume. The 152 color plates of Volumes XI-XIV are collected in one folio-sized volume, originally priced at