Pomfret

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about pomfret fish. For other uses, see Pomfret (disambiguation).

Pomfret

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Bramidae

Genera

Brama
Collybus
Eumegistus
Pteraclis
Pterycombus
Taractes
Taractichthys
Xenobrama
See text for species.

Pomfret are perciform fishes belonging to the family Bramidae.

They are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and the largest species, the Atlantic pomfret, Brama brama, grows up to one metre long.

Several species are important food fish in some parts of the world, especially Brama brama in south Asia.

1 Species
2 Literature
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Species

There are about twenty species in eight genera:

Genus Brama
- Brama australis Valenciennes, 1837.
- Atlantic pomfret, Brama brama (Fries, 1837).
- Caribbean pomfret, Brama caribbea Mead, 1972.
- Lesser bream, Brama dussumieri Cuvier, 1831.
- Pacific pomfret, Brama japonica Hilgendorf, 1878.
- Brama myersi Mead, 1972.
- Bigtooth pomfret, Brama orcini Cuvier, 1831.
- Brama pauciradiata Moteki, Fujita & Last, 1995.
Genus Collybus
- Collybus drachme Snyder, 1904.
Genus Eumegistus
- Eumegistus brevorti (Poey, 1860).
- Eumegistus illustris Jordan & Jordan, 1922.
Genus Pteraclis
- Pacific fanfish, Pteraclis aesticola (Jordan & Snyder, 1901).
- Pteraclis carolinus Valenciennes, 1833.
  
  Pteraclis carolinus
- Spotted fanfish, Pteraclis velifera australiae Whitley, 1935.
Genus Pterycombus
- Atlantic fanfish, Pterycombus brama Fries, 1837.
- Prickly pomfret, Pterycombus petersii (Hilgendorf, 1878).
Genus Taractes
- Rough pomfret, Taractes asper Lowe, 1843.
- Pomfret, Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann, 1887).
Genus Taractichthys
- Bigscale pomfret, Taractichthys longipinnis (Lowe, 1843).
- Sickle pomfret, Taractichthys steindachneri (Döderlein, 1883).
Genus Xenobrama
- Xenobrama microlepis Yatsu & Nakamura, 1989.

[edit] Literature

The pomfret is referred to in Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, particularly in the chapter "The Fisherman's Pointing Finger," where he talks about how the pomfret went into decline as a driver of the economy of Bombay.