Auxis rochei (Risso 1810)

Ceríaco, Luis M. P., Santos, Bruna S., Semedo, Thiago B. F., Garcia, Lucas Canes & Moreira, Cristiano Rangel, 2023, The fish collection of José Mariano da Conceição Veloso (1742 - 1811) and the beginning of ichthyological research in Brazil, with a taxonomic description of the extant specimens, Zootaxa 5391 (1), pp. 1-85 : 47-48

Auxis rochei (Risso 1810)

Extant specimens: MCUC ZOO.0000020 ( Fig. 33 ).

Classification on the specimen: “P. Th. Scomber pelamis ”.

Common names on the specimen (Portuguese/Tupi): “Bonito”/ “Curuatá pinima”.

Comments: This species was undescribed at the time Veloso prepared it. The original classification of this specimen is Scomber pelamis Linnaeus 1758 (= Katsuwonus pelamis ), which is a species similar to Auxis rochei , and a name that was available by the time this specimen was collected. However, as mentioned above, one specimen of Caranx latus (MCUC ZOO.0000015), a morphologically very distinct species of another family was also classified as “P. Th. Scomber pelamis ”. On the back of the herbarium sheet, there is a subsequent identification with the name Auxis rochei . This pencil inscription was certainly done by someone other than Veloso as genus Auxis Cuvier 1829 was described only after his death. The Portuguese common name is still used nowadays. There are 66 herborized specimens of Scomber listed in the Ajuda’s inventory ( Ferreira, 1794), and one specimen of Scomber pelamis mentioned in the transference list to the University of Coimbra, which is probably this specimen. No specimen of Scomber pelamis is mentioned in the transference list to Lisbon Academy of Sciences. This species is described in the Ichthyologia Fluminensis manuscript and included the same common names as the ones in the herbarium sheet. Auxis rochei occurs in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Western Pacific ( Collette 2002).

Figures

FIGURE 33. Auxis rochei (Risso 1810), MCUC ZOO.0000020, 460 mm SL. Photo by Luis M. P. Ceríaco.