First Record of Ariomma (Pisces, Stromateoidei) from the South Pacific, and Comments on the Elongate Species of the Genus

Six specimens of Ariomma taken by the Danish R/V Dana come from areas where this genus has been recorded. Two fish come from 27°00′S, 177°41′W, far outside the previously known range. These South Pacific specimens are described and are referred to A. lurida Jordan & Snyder, 1904. They extend the known range of the genus into the Australian region, suggesting that at least some species may be more oceanic and independent of the land than was formerly supposed. The three Caribbean specimens are referred to A. bondi Fowler, 1930; the two from West Africa are indeterminable. A Philippine specimen is deep bodied, and undoubtedly belongs to A. indica (Day, 1870). Despite their wide geographic separation, the elongate South Pacific and North Atlantic specimens are exceedingly similar in both meristics and proportions. A middle-to-late-Pliocene evolution of Ariomma combined with the relative uniformity of the oceanic environment could account for the similarity between such widely separated forms. Examination of large series and a search for new characters are needed to solve the problem posed by the species of Ariomma.