Abstract:
Our primary purpose in preparing "A Key to the Stromateoid
Fishes" is to provide field workers and curators with a convenient
and concise aid for the identification of the diverse species in this
somewhat difficult group.
Secondarily, we hope to present, through
the keys, a summary of the present state of our knowledge of these
fishes, and to indicate areas where further investigation is needed.
The keys which compose this handbook have been derived from
several sources. Some are slightly modified from already published
or about-to-be-published sources.
Others form a part of manuscripts
in preparation. A third group of keys has
been constructed from published
species descriptions and our own often meagre data.
The keys are intended primarily for larger specimens.
Small stromateoids are particularly confusing, and it is not our purpose
to treat them here. The well-known and marked allometric growth in
stromateoids remains a problem, and those who use these keys should
be aware that the body proportions
of very large and/or very small
specimens can fall well outside the limits here set.
We expect and
hope for corrections and improvements to the keys, and have left
them double-spaced so comments
may be written in by users.
We have
not attempted to settle nomenclatural problems, but have used the oldest
name we know of when a choice is necessary.
Neither have we
gone into the problem of synonymy to any great extent.
In some cases
we have approached this problem by including two names under one
couplet in a key. The choice of which name to employ is thus passed
on to the user.
