. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. 242 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 120. nFISJTIMFTRFR Figure 2. Photograph of skeletal remains of a Great Barracuda from Country Island, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia (NSM 85385) flanked by the upper and lower jaws of ROM R628I. chased from Kensington Fish Market, Toronto, and thought to be from the Caribbean area) that has a re- corded total length of cm. The length of the dor- sal skull surface (from the anterior tip excluding the upper jaw to the origin of the supraoccipital crest) is mm in NSM 85385 and
. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. 242 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 120. nFISJTIMFTRFR Figure 2. Photograph of skeletal remains of a Great Barracuda from Country Island, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia (NSM 85385) flanked by the upper and lower jaws of ROM R628I. chased from Kensington Fish Market, Toronto, and thought to be from the Caribbean area) that has a re- corded total length of cm. The length of the dor- sal skull surface (from the anterior tip excluding the upper jaw to the origin of the supraoccipital crest) is mm in NSM 85385 and mm in ROM R6281. These measurements make the Nova Scotian specimen ca. cm total length. NSM 85385 has a head length of ca. mm (the opercular bone is somewhat curved) and FishBase () states that head length is total length, giving a total length for the Nova Scotian specimen of m. These two forms of measurement agree, making the Nova Scotian specimen about 1 m long in life. This unequivocally eliminates S. borealis and probably S. guachancho. Other, osteological, characters also strongly sug- gest the Nova Scotian specimen is a Great Barracuda. The specimen has the area between eyes flat (convex in S. guachancho), teeth are contiguous, vertically flat- tened and erect (conical and widely spaced in S. bore- alis, angled backwards in S. guachancho), and the tip of the maxilla reaches past the anterior orbit margin (not reaching the orbit in S. borealis) (De Sylva 1984; Murdy et al. 1997; Carpenter 2002; comparative mate- rial of 5. guachancho ROM R1837 and R2706). We consider it unlikely that this specimen came from a local fish market and was imported. One of us (JG) has not seen this species on sale locally. The shore of Country Island is remote from commercial sites. It probably represents a stray that died in Canadian waters and was washed ashore. Acknowledgments We are indebted to Kevin Seymour, Department of Palaeobiology, Royal O
Size: 2078px × 1203px
Photo credit: © Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
