Serranid Fishes of the Okinawa Islands (I)

The author visited Okinawa for research of fishes durmg the period from 10 to 17 May, 1973 and collected many serranid fishes at the fish market in Naha and Itoman, where they are abundant and very important food fishes. In 1960, the author published the treatise on serranid fishes in Japan, in which, however, he omitted these fishes in the Okinawa Islands, which had been under the rule of the United States of America. The serranid fishes in the Okinawa Islands have been briefly described by JORDAN and STARKS(1907), SNYDER(1912), SCHMIDT(1930), AOYAGI(1942,'43,'49), KAMOHARA(1964) and GUSHlKEN(1972). In the present paper is given a detailed description of the species of Serranidae known to inhabit the waters of the Okinawa Islands. In the present study, the standard length means from the tip of the snout to the end of the hypural