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(Families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae)
An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of the Snake Mackerels, Snoeks, Escolars, Gemfishes, Sackfishes, Domine, Oilfish, Cutlassfishes, Scabbardfishes, Hairtails, and Frostfishes Known to Date
ABSTRACT
This is the fifteenth issue in the FAO series of world-wide annotated and illustrated catalogues of the groups of marine organisms that enter marine fisheries. This volume covers 23 species in 16 genera of gempylids (snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, domine, oilfishes) and 32 species in 9 genera of trichiurids (cutlassfishes, scabbardfishes, hairtails, and frostfishes). It includes an introductory section with general remarks on habitat, biology, fisheries, systematics, zoogeography and problems of identification, a glossary of technical terms, illustrated keys to genera and species, including regional keys, detailed accounts of species, and a table of species by major fishing area. Species accounts include illustrations, scientific and vernacular names, references to scientific names, information on habitat, biology and fisheries, and a distribution map. The work is fully indexed and there is an extensive reference to pertinent literature.
PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT
This document was prepared under the FAO Fisheries Department Regular Programme in the Marine Resources Service of the Fishery Resources and Environment Division. It is the fifteenth worldwide species catalogue in the FAO Fisheries Synopsis series.
The authors are two of the world's foremost authorities on the taxonomy of species of the Gempylidae and Trichiuridae. They have published numerous scientific articles on these fishes. This work is based on an extensive review of the literature and the authors have examined specimens, including most of the type material, from the major museums of the world. In addition, they have looked at fresh specimens during research cruises and from markets at localities around the world. Their work is part of an on-going revision of the systematics of these two closely related groups. They both have considerable taxonomic experience in each group and have worked nearly equally on each family depending on which genera they are most familiar with.
Commercial catch statistics are not extensive for these fishes, because their exploitation is mostly by small-scale fisheries and also because they are difficult to identify. Consequently, little is known about the biology of these fishes. This catalogue is timely therefore, as a compilation of what is known about these...