Evidence is presented for a relationship between the Mastacembelidae, with Chaudhuria, and the Synbranchidae.In addition to a number of features associated with elongation of the body held in common by the two groups, there are similarities in head structure.Those of the olfactory apparatus, the upper jaw articulation, and the suspensorium are discussed.It is hypothesized that the mastacembelids and synbranchids have evolved in different directions from a common elongate ancestor which was itself a specialized derivative of the lower percoid fishes.

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Dentatherina merceri, a new genus and species, is described from specimens collected in an area extending from the Philippines to north-eastern Australia and from the Moluccas to the Trobriand Islands. On the basis of osteological characters involving the cranium, jaws and caudal skeleton, the new species is considered distinct from every other silverside examined and is therefore placed in a subfamily of its own, the Dentatherininae. The new subfamily's closest affinity appears to be with the Atherininae which encompasses most of the marine silverside genera of the Old World.

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A new anthiine fish, Anthias (Pseudanthias) luzonensis is described on the basis of two specimens collected from Luzon Is., Philippines.This new species differs from all other species of the genus in the combination of two predorsal bones, a produced third dorsal spine in males, much prolonged middle anal soft rays.In life two broad lateral bands of orange-red on the dorsal part of the body and a red blotch on the basal portion of the sixth to eighth dorsal fin spines are observable in males.

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Myersina nigrivirgata, a new species of goby, is described from specimens from Iriomote-jima, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It has the following characteristics: the gill membranes are connected across the isthmus: the vomer with a pair of longitudinal ridges at the central part of its lower surface and without lateral processes; a black lateral band running from behind the eye to the end of the caudal fin.

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Two new dragonets, Foetorepus kinmeiensis and Foetorepus kanmuensis, are described from Kinmei and Kanmu Seamounts of the Emperor Seamount Chain in the North -central Pacific. Both species are red in ground color, but they can be separated from each other by color pattern, shape of the preopercular spine, thickness of pelvic fin rays, and length of the first dorsal fin ray in males.

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Fishes collected on the second voyage of Captain Cook have been causing many prob-lems to taxonomists, partly because the fishes were described and named but the manuscripts not published by their author, Johann Reinhold Forster, the naturalist on the second voyage; partly because the present whereabouts of manuscripts and drawings are not known to most modern workers and partly because the collected fishes had been widely dispersed. The present paper gives a brief account of the fate of the notes, drawings and the present whereabouts of some of the fishes and in particular, Atherina lacunosa. This species has been, for a long time, a subject of considerable controversy. The examination of all available resources leads the authors to the conclusion that the type specimen of A.lacunosa in Paris is indeed a Forster specimen. Types of a number of nominal species which have been compared with the type of A.lacunosa are now considered indistinct from it.A.lacunosa is placed in the genus Atherinomorus which is now regarded as the senior synonym of Pranesus.

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The Japanese lutjanid which is known as “fuedai” in Japanese has been identified as Lutjanus rivulatus. However, this Japanese form is completely different from L.rivulatus in body forms and coloration. Since this fish has not been named scientifically, it is described as Lutjanus stellatus sp.nov.in this paper. This new species occurs only in southern Japan from Ibaraki to Okinawa. The differences between L.rivulatus and L.stellatus are as follows: Head length and pectoral fin length of L.rivulatus are longer than those of L.stellatus; in L.rivulatus 22-24 wavy, thin and blue lines are present on the snout and cheek, but in L.stellatus one longitudinal band is present on the snout; a grayish white dot on each scale of the body is present in L.rivulatus, but absent in L.stellatus; the posterior edge of the anal fin is pointed in L.rivulatus, but round in L.stellatus.

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Five species of liparidid fishes, Careproctus cyclocephalus sp.nov., C. macrodiscus, C. furcellus, Paraliparis grandis and P. rosaceus, are described or redescribed from specimens collected from the Okhotsk and Bering seas and their adjacent waters. C. cyclocephalus, described from the Okhotsk Sea off Hokkaido, is distinguished by its simple recurved canine teeth;gill opening widely separated from the pectoral fin;uppermost pectoral fin ray situated below the posterior corner of the maxillary; 26-31 pectoral fin rays and 33-50 pyloric caeca; pale peritoneum and black stomach. Second records of C. macrodiscus and P. grandis are reported. The four species redescribed here are the first records from Japan.

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Diagnoses are given for 13 new clupeid, 11 new engraulid species and a clupid with a new name from the Indo-Pacific region in order to make these names available to systematic workers pending publication of a complete revision of the Indo-Pacific clupeoid fauna.In addition, 4 new generic and 38 new specific allocations are listed.

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Two juvenile specimens of a gempylid species obtained from Suruga Bay, Japan and the southern Sulu Sea were identified as Nesiarchus nasutus Johnson originally described from the Atlantic Ocean.These are first records of N.nasutus in Japan and the Sulu Sea.Habitat and distribution of N.nasutus are briefly discussed.A method of measurements for the Gempylidae is proposed.

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A prolonged deprivation of catfish Heteropneustes fossilis from food resulted in a state of physiological emergency during which proteins and fats were hydrolysed to meet the energy requirements of metabolism.The excretion of nitrogenous products formed at the expense of sarcoplasmic proteins caused negative nitrogen balance inasmuch as the replenishment from exogenous sources remained withheld.The consequences of the loss of endogenous chemical constituents and energy value together with a relative increase in the hydration of the tissues and a fall in the level of inorganic substances have been discussed.

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Effects of water flow rate and lowering the dissolved oxygen in ambient water on the respiration of the frogfishes, Histrio histrio and Phrynelox tridens, were investigated using con-tinuous flow respirometry. Resting V_O2 of isolated fish of both species did not increase with increase in flow rate through the respirometer tube, whereas the percentage of oxygen removed from that water decreased. With increasing flow rate the ventilatory frequency rose in P. tridens, but not in H. histrio. These differences are probably related to differences in the habitat of each species. Both the percentage of oxygen removal and ventilatory frequency in each species in-creased with decrease in the oxygen content in ambient water. V_O2 did not change in H. histrio but increased with a decrease in water oxygen content in P. tridens. It is suggested that lowering of oxygen in the inspired water leads to compensatory responses in which the oxygen consump-tion of the fish during hypoxia is maintained in H. histrio or increased in P. tridens as a result of a rise in proportion of oxygen removed and elevated ventilatory frequency.

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The hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri, were collected from late October to next July in Kamo Bay situated in one of the Oki Islands in theJapan Sea.They were absent from the Bay in August and September.Instead, the hagfish were found outside the bay at depths of about 50 m in August and early October.The relative ovary weight and the size of maturing eggs drastically decreased between August and early October.The ovary of the hagfish collected in early October contained large postovulatory follicles.It was estimated that the hagfish breed in September somewhere outside the bay.There were 44 maturing eggs per female on the average.The relative testis weight did not show clear seasonal changes.The testis of males captured in August contained mainly spermatogonia, but few sperm.Fully mature males about to participate in reproduction were not collected.Males were significantly longer (50.8cm) than females (48.9cm).

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Eggs and larvae of Callionymus calliste were obtained from spawners in the aquarium. The fish makes belt-like egg masses in which individual eggs stick to each other and are arranged in a single layer, about 3mm wide and 70mm in maximum length.The eggs averaged 0.60mm in diameter and had the characteristics common to the genus.The larvae had the following characteristics: a row of melanophores along the edge of the ventral fin fold;and vacuoles on the dorsal and ventral fin folds.

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Chirolophis japonicus is known from as far north as Peter the Great Bay and Hokkaido south to southern Korea and Tsintao, northern China, and grows over 50cm TL.In Mutsu Bay, they inhabit rocky shallow coastal waters.They show strong cryptic habits and are almost impossible to ob-serve by SCUBA diving observations.They mainly feed on the sea cucumber Sticopus japonicus and the gastropod Neptunea arthritica by snapping them off with the aid of the sharp continuous cutting edge of both jaws.The digestive tract is very long, being 0.7-1.5 times of its total length.The stomach is provided with 5-7 well-developed pyloric caeca.They attain sexual maturity at over ca.25cm TL in males and 30cm TL in females.In Mutsu Bay, the spawning period extends from late November to December, when the water temperature falls below 10°C.The ovary is of the two-lobed type and deeply separated basally.Secondary sexual characters are recognized in the elevation of the nape backward to the origin of dorsal fin, the elongation of the anterior four dorsal spines and the darkening of body coloration in males.
In spawning experiments in the aquarium, female parents guarded egg masses in all two cases.Eggs were attached to each other but did not adhere to other substrata.Spawnings took place in a tube-like hollow of a concrete block.Eggs were pressed on the wall of the hollow.Female parents guarded eggs in the hollow, but did not coil their body on the eggs.Egg membranes are spherical, light milky white, and measure 2.50±0.06mm (n=30) in diameter.They do not form any adhesive process, and are attached to each other at adhesive points or small faces.Yolk is light yellow, containing a large light yellow oil globule but without white cloudy material.Time for the hatching is estimated to be about two months under water temperatures of 3.5-10°C.Newly hatched prolarvae are 12.2-13.5mm TL, and are very slender and compressed.The distance from the tip of the snout to the anal opening is 35 % of TL.Myomere counts are 62 64 (15-16+46-47).
Rearing experiments of larvae show that yolk is consumed in two weeks after hatching.Larvae reached 16.5 19.3mm TL two weeks after hatching, and 20.4-24.2mm TL in 39 days, attaining the early juvenile stage.In Mutsu Bay, planktonic juveniles of 29.2 34.0mm TL were collected with fish lamps at Moura in March and April.Early benthonic juveniles, 29.2-34.0mm TL, were collected from baskets for scallop culture in April and May.
The present species is characterized by scaled cheeks, but in smaller specimens less than ca.20cm TL scales cannot be detected by naked eyes, because of their small size and the fact that they are imbedded in the skin.Examination of the development of dentition in cleared and stained.specimens shows that primary small teeth develop in the planktonic stage, arranged in two alternating rows.They are replaced by secondary developed incisors at ca.10cm TL.These incisors form a continuous cutting edge composed of two accurately alternating rows.
On the basis of the development of squamation on the cheeks and coloration of C.japonicus, Bryostemma otohime Jordan et Snyder, 1902, which was described from the 82mm TL holotype collected from Hakodate, southern Hokkaido, is considered to be the young form of C.japonicus.Azuma emmnion Jordan et Snyder, 1902 is considered to be a male of C.japonicus.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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