ON THE RACES OF THE HAIRTAILS TRICHIURUS HAUMELA(FORSK?L)INHABITING COASTAL WATERS OF CHINA

This paper deals with the races of the hairtails Trichiurus haumela (Fors-kal) inhabiting coastal waters of china. The work was carried out during theperiod 1963-1965 by means of an anatomical as well as biometrical studies asfollows: (1) morphometrical measurement. (2) number of dorsal fin rays. (3)pectoral fin rays. (4) pyloric caeca. (5) the vertebrae. (6) fused pre-caudalhaemal spines. (7) post-cranial vertibrae with multiple neural spines. (8) de-gree of completeness of second anal pterygiophore. (9) the borny tubercle. (10)the parasites in abdominal cavity, and (11) the shape of the swim-bladder.Altogether 2232 samples in 24 lots were collected for ananalyses from theYellow Sea and Pohai, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Gulfof Tongking. In addition, two lots of mixed samples and three lots of larvae ofthe same-year class have also been analized. The results obtained during the studies demonstrated that the hairtails maybe grouped into five local races, viz., (1) the Yellow Sea-Pohai race. (2) therace of the East China Sea-Eastern coast of Kwantung. (3) race of Westerncoast of Kwantung. (4) the race of coastal waters of the Gulf of Tongking. (5)the race offshore waters of the Gulf of Tongking. It is noticed that the first two races differ considerably from the otherthe three (Table 7).