TL;DR: The phylogenetic relationships of all 16 genera (plus Psenes pellucidus) of the suborder Stromateoidei were estimated cladistically based on 43 osteological, myological, and external characters, with Amarsipus being nested within the stromateoid clade, being a sister group of the clade including Ariomma, nomeids, Tetragonurus, andStromateids.
Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships of all 16 genera (plus Psenes pellucidus) of the suborder Stromateoidei were estimated cladistically based on 43 osteological, myological, and external characters. Thirty equally parsimonious trees were obtained. Based on the strict consensus tree, Centrolophidae was nonmonophyletic, Psenopsis being placed as a sister group of a clade comprising Amarsipus, Ariomma, nomeids, Tetragonurus, and stromateids. Schedophilus formed a sister group relationship with Seriolella. The relationships among the Centrolophus, Hyperoglyphe, Icichthys, Tubbia, Schedophilus + Seriolella clade, and Psenopsis + Amarsipus + Ariomma + nomeids + Tetragonurus + stromateids clade were unresolved. Amarsipus, which is unique within the suborder in lacking a pharyngeal sac, was nested within the stromateoid clade, being a sister group of the clade including Ariomma, nomeids, Tetragonurus, and stromateids. The absence of a pharyngeal sac in Amarsipus was interpreted as a reversal, its presence in the Stromateoidei therefore being considered as a synapomorphy. Ariomma was placed as the sister group of a clade comprising nomeids, Tetragonurus, and stromateids. Monophyly of the Nomeidae and Stromateidae were supported by 2 and 11 synapomorphies, respectively.
TL;DR: Comparison of the molecular phylogenies to previous morphological hypotheses suggested that evolutionary changes in morphological characters have not occurred equally among the stromateoid lineages, the evolution of the centrolophids not having been accompanied by appreciable morphological changes, whereas otherStromateoids have undergone considerable morphologicalChanges during their evolutionary history.
TL;DR: The occurrence in the North Sea of a specimen of the white pomfret, Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788), a mesopelagic fish which is native to the Indian Ocean and particularly South-east Asia and the East China Sea, is described.
Abstract: The occurrence in the North Sea of a specimen of the white pomfret, Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788), a mesopelagic fish which is native to the Indian Ocean and particularly South-east Asia and the East China Sea, is described. Other anomalous distribution records for the same species are examined and some possible explanations investigated.
TL;DR: It is indicated that gene flow is sufficient to prevent any genetic differentiation among the sampled localities and a second trevalla species, Schedophilus labyrinthicus, was identified in the New South Wales component of the fishery.
Abstract: Six samples (n =67 to 154) of blue-eye or deepsea trevalla were collected from south-eastern Australia (seamounts off New South Wales, a seamount south-east of Tasmania called the Cascade Plateau, off the east, south and west coasts of Tasmania, and off the coast of South Australia). All fish were analysed by starch or cellulose acetate electrophoresis for the products of seven polymorphic loci (defined in this study as those with an average heterozygosity greater than 0.06); a minimum of 24 fish per area were also analysed for 29 other less variable loci. The average heterozygosity per locus was 5.3%. Polymorphic loci showed no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The coefficient of genetic subpopulation differentiation, GST, was 0.38%. Bootstrapping procedures showed that this low value could be attributed to sampling error alone. Contingency Χ2 analysis similarly failed to reveal any significant inter-sample differentiation for any locus. The results indicate that gene flow is sufficient to prevent any genetic differentiation among the sampled localities. During the course of the study a second trevalla species, Schedophilus labyrinthicus, was identified in the New South Wales component of the fishery.
TL;DR: The present note describes observations upon the biology of Schedophilus medusophagus Cocco, and upon the structure of its integument.
Abstract: Stromateoid fishes form a small group among the Perciformes, characterized by remarkable toothed saccular outgrowths in the gullet just behind the last gill arch (Haedrich, 1967). Most are associated with medusae when young but are poorly known as adults. In addition to the diagnostic oesophageal teeth, a striking feature of many stromateoids is the curious subdermal canal system, whose function is unknown and whose structure has not been described in detail. The present note describes observations upon the biology of Schedophilus medusophagus Cocco, and upon the structure of its integument.