An early Flecker radiograph of Hydrophis elegans, and new information on its feeding habits

1 Pages·1994·0.22 MB·

by  J A Covacevich

68 MEMOIRS OFTHEQUEENSLANDMUSUEM
AN EARLY FLECKER RADIOGRAPH OF fish,prawns,crabs,wormsandfisheggsfromcoralandrock
HOYNDIRTOSPFHEIESDEILNEGGAHANBSI.TSA.NDMemNoEirWsIofNtFheORQuMeAenTsIlaOnNd rfeiesfhse)s.fHr,ometseofgtanbsotistormepionrstheodrteowfaeteedrsso(lLeilympouns.ve1r9y87e)l,ongate
Museum37(1):68J994;-DrHugoFlecker(1884-1957)was Flecker's radiograph shows clearly three fish (the
aprominentnaturalist-radiologistwhospentmuchofhislife posterior-mostspecimenisaHerring, FamilyClupeidae;the
inCairns, NEQ. Hisworkis widelyknown. He madelarge, others are Cardinal Fish, Family Apogonidae: R. McKay,
significant, botanical collections; founded the North pers.comm.)andashrimp(InfraorderCaridea:J.Short,pers.
QueenslandNaturalist'sClub;andpublishedextensivelyon comm.) in the gut of a specimen identified by him as H.
plant and animal injuries lo humans. A host of plant and etegans. Thissuggests thatH, etegans may be a less highly
animal species bear the namefleckeri in recognition ofthe specialisedfeederthanreportedtodate.
valueofhiscontributionstonaturalhistory.Fleckerwasalso
apioneerin the fieldofradiotherapy and publishedon this,
andonearly bonedevelopmentinhumans(Ciarkson, 1990; LiteratureCited
Pearn,1994). Ciarkson,J.R. 1990.HugoFleckerandthenorthQueensland
ItisnotsurprisingtofindthatFleckercombinedhismajor Naturalists' Club. Pp. 171-178. InShortP.S. (ed.), 'A
interestsofnaturalhistoryandradiology.Hetookatleast20 historyofsystematicbotany in Australasia'. Proceed-
radiographsofnativeanimals.Thesehaverecentlybeenredis- ings ofa Symposium held at the University of Mel-
covered(JRC).Amongsttheseriesofprints(alloriginalfilms bourne, 25-27 May, 1988. (Australian Systematic
appeartobelost)areradiographsoftwospeciesofseasnakes, BotanySocietyInc.; Melbourne).
Hydrophisetegans and Asirotia stolcesii. That ofthe latter Limpus,CJ. 1987. Seasnakes.Pp. 195-204. InCovacevich,
speciesisinsignificantzoologically.However,thatoftheH. J., Davie, P. & Pearn, J. (eds), 'Toxic plants and
etegansspecimenprovidesnewdataonthe feedinghabitsof animals.AguideforAustralia'.{QueenslandMuseum:
thisspecies,andisofaestheticinterest(Fig. I).Neitherofthe Brisbane).
seasnakeradiographsbearsadate.However,asothersinthe Pearn,J. 1994. HugoBecker'scontribution tomedicineand
seriesweretakenin 1939,itseemsreasonabletosuggestthose natural hisiorv.The MedicalJournalofAustralia 161:
oftheseasnakesdate,atleastroughly,fromthesameera. 63-70.
Thepreyspeciesofmany seasnakesofAustralia'stropi- J.A. Covacevich, QueenslandMuseum, POBox3300, South
cal and subtropical waters are well known (e.g, Limpus, Brisbane, Queensland4101 Australia;J.H. Pearn. Depart-
1987).Mostarebottom-feeders.Somehaveultra-specialized ment of Child Health, Uni,versity of Queensland, Royal
diets (e.g. Emydocephalus annulatus, which feeds on only Children's Hospital, Herston, Queensland4029, Australia;
bleniniidandgobiidfisheggsfromburrowsincoralreefs).A J.R, Ciarkson, Queensland Herbarium (Mareeba office),
fewfeedonawiderangeofanimals(e.gAipysuruslaeviseats Mareeba, Queensland4880,Australia; 20July1994,
FIG. 1.RadiographofHydrophisetegans,followingingestionoftwofishandashrimp.(DrHugoFlecker).