Gnomefish

Gnomefishes
Temporal range: Early Eocene to Present[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scombropidae
Genus: Scombrops
Temminck & Schlegel, 1845
Species
  • Scombrops boops (Houttuyn, 1782)
  • Scombrops gilberti (Jordan & Snyder, 1901)
  • Scombrops oculatus (Poey, 1860)

The gnomefishes are a small family Scombropidae of marine fish, consisting of three species in the genus Scombrops.

They have two dorsal fins and are notable for scales covering the soft parts of the dorsal and anal fins. The eyes are large.

The gnomefish, Scombrops boops, lives in deep rocky areas, down to 400 m. It can grow to 150 cm total length and 16 kg weight.

Scombrops gilberti occurs in the western Pacific including Japan.

The Atlantic scombrops, Scombrops oculatus, is widely found in the subtropical western Atlantic, particularly the Florida and Bahamas area. It is a deepwater fish, caught by anglers between 200 and 610 m.

References

  1. ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2007-12-25.