Opah
Lampris guttatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Lampriformes Family: Lampridae Genus: Lampris Retzius, 1799
Species
Lampris guttatus Lampris immaculatus Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders See text The Actinopterygii are the ray-finned fish. ... Families Turkmenidae (extinct) Veliferidae (velifers) Lamprididae (opahs) Stylephoridae (tube-eye/thread-tail) Lophotidae (crestfishes) Radiicephalidae (tapertail) Trachipteridae (ribbonfishes) Regalecidae (oarfishes) Lampriformes (also spelt Lampridiformes) are an order of ray-finned fish that includes about 50 living species of deep sea fishes, including the opahs, crestfishes, ribbonfishes, and oarfish. ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The hierarchy of scientific classification. ...

Opah (also known colloquially as moonfish, sunfish, kingfish, and Jerusalem haddock) are large, colourful, deep-bodied pelagic Lampriform fish comprising the small family Lampridae (also spelled Lamprididae). There are only two known species in a single genus: Lampris (from the Greek lamprid-, "brilliant" or "clear"). One species is found in tropical to temperate waters of most oceans, while the other is limited to a circumglobal distribution in the Southern Ocean, with the 34th parallel as its northern limit. Several kinds of things are named sunfish (or sun-fish): A class of sailboat Various fish: Marine fish: The Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) The Oblong Sunfish (Ranzania laevis) Opah (family Lampridae; two species) The moonfishes of genus Selene (order Perciformes) The African pompano (Alectis ciliaris) (order Perciformes) The American Gamer... Kingfish is used as the vernacular name of a variety of fish: King mackerel Scomberomorus cavalla (several) Kingcroakers Menticirrhus spp. ... This is a scale diagram of the layers of the pelagic zone. ... Families Turkmenidae (extinct) Veliferidae (velifers) Lamprididae (opahs) Stylephoridae (tube-eye/thread-tail) Lophotidae (crestfishes) Radiicephalidae (tapertail) Trachipteridae (ribbonfishes) Regalecidae (oarfishes) Lampriformes (also spelt Lampridiformes) are an order of ray-finned fish that includes about 50 living species of deep sea fishes, including the opahs, crestfishes, ribbonfishes, and oarfish. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are cold-blooded, covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... The hierarchy of scientific classification In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. ... The hierarchy of scientific classification. ... For other uses, see Genus (disambiguation). ...

Though rarely caught, opah are prized trophies for deep-water anglers as their large size and attractive form lend themselves well to taxidermy. Occasional bycatch from the longline tuna industry is also marketed and prepared as sashimi, as well as being broiled and smoked; opah flesh (despite being stringy and hard to fillet) has a moderate flavour and is well appreciated in this regard, especially in Hawaii. Opah are garnering increasing interest from restaurateurs as other staple species become unavailable. An average of 35 percent of an opah's weight is utilised for consumption. Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering. ... A mounted snow leopard. ... In fisheries science, by-catch refers to species caught in a fishery intended to target another species, as well as reproductively_immature juveniles of the target species. ... See: long line (topology) long line (telecommunications) long-line fishing This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A shoal of skipjack tuna Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ... Assorted sashimi Sashimi (Japanese: ) is a Japanese delicacy primarily consisting of very fresh raw seafoods, thinly sliced into pieces about 2. ... A fillet, also filet (pronounced or ), is a boneless cut of meat or fish. ... Official language(s) English, Hawaiian Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  Ranked 43rd  - Total 10,931 sq mi (29,311 km²)  - Width n/a miles (n/a km)  - Length 1,522 miles (2,450 km)  - % water 41. ... Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ...

Physical description

Opah are deeply keeled, compressed and discoid fish with conspicuous coloration: the body is a steely blue grading to rosy on the belly, with white spots covering the flanks. Both the median and paired fins are a bright vermillion, contrasting strongly with the body. The large eyes stand out as well, ringed with golden yellow. The body is covered in minute cycloid scales and its silvery, iridescent guanine coating is easily abraded. Vermilion, also spelled vermillion, when found naturally-occurring, is an opaque reddish orange pigment, used since antiquity, originally derived from the powdered mineral cinnabar. ... In this SEM image of a butterfly wing the scales are clearly visible, and the tiny platelets on each individual scale are just barely visible in the striping. ... The iridescence of the Blue Morpho butterfly wings. ... Guanine is one of the five main nucleobases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA; the others being adenine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil. ...

If coloration is ignored, opah closely resemble the unrelated butterfish (family Stromateidae). Both have falcate pectoral fins and forked, emarginate caudal fins. Aside from being significantly larger than butterfish, opah have enlarged, falcate pelvic fins—with ca. 14–17 rays, which distinguish opah from superficially similar carangids—positioned thoracically; adult butterfish lack pelvic fins. The pectorals of opah are also inserted (more or less) horizontally rather than vertically. The anterior portion of an opah's single dorsal fin (with ca. 50–55 rays) is greatly elongated, also in a falcate profile similar to the pelvic fins. The anal fin (ca. 34–41 rays) is about as high and as long as the shorter portion of the dorsal fin, and both fins have corresponding grooves into which they can be depressed. Butterfish is the common name for a fish of the family Stromateidae. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ... A family of fishes which includes the Pompanos and Jacks Pilot fish - Naucrates ductor Categories: Fish stubs ... Dorsal fin of an orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the (extinct) ichthyosaurs. ... Fish anatomy is primarily governed by the physical characteristics of water, which is much denser than air, holds a relatively small amount of dissolved oxygen, and absorbs light more than does air. ...

The snout is pointed and the mouth small, toothless and terminal. The lateral line forms a high arch over the pectoral fins before sweeping down to the caudal peduncle. The largest species, Lampris guttatus, may reach a total length of 2 metres and a weight of 270 kilograms. The lesser-known Lampris immaculatus reaches a recorded total length of just 1.1 metres. A humans visible teeth. ... In fish, the lateral line is a sense organ used to detect movement in the surrounding water. ...

Life history

Almost nothing is known of opah biology and ecology. They are presumed to live out their entire lives in the open ocean, at mesopelagic depths of ca. 50–500 metres, with possible forays into the bathypelagic zone. They are apparently solitary but are known to school with tuna and other scombrids. Opah propel themselves via a lift-based labriform mode of swimming; that is, by flapping their pectoral fins. This, together with their forked caudal fins and depressible median fins, indicates that opah—like tuna—maintain themselves at constantly high speeds. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... School of juvenile herring - many fish have the opercula wide open for ram feeding and you can see the red gills The term swarm (schooling or swarming) is applied to fish, birds and insects and describes a behavior of an aggregation (school) of animals of similar size and body orientation... A shoal of skipjack tuna Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ... Genera Acanthocybium Allothunnus Auxus Cybiosarda Euthynnus Gasterochisma Grammatorcynus Gymnosarda Katsuwonus Orcynopsis Rastrelliger Sarda Scomber Scomberomorus Thunnus Scombridae is the family of the mackerels, tunas, and bonitos, and thus includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. ...

Squid and euphausiids (krill) make up the bulk of the opah diet; small fish are also taken. Pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tagging operations have indicated that (aside from humans) large pelagic sharks, such as Great White Sharks and Mako Sharks, are primary predators of opah. The tetraphyllidean tapeworm Pelichnibothrium speciosum has been found in L. guttatus, which may be an intermediate or paratenic host (Scholz et al. 1998). Suborders †Plesioteuthididae (incertae sedis) Myopsina Oegopsina Squid are a large, diverse group of marine cephalopods. ... Families Euphausiidae Euphausia Dana, 1852 Meganyctiphanes Holt and W. M. Tattersall, 1905 Nematobrachion Calman, 1905 Nematoscelis G. O. Sars, 1883 Nyctiphanes G. O. Sars, 1883 Pseudeuphausia Hansen, 1910 Stylocheiron G. O. Sars, 1883 Tessarabrachion Hansen, 1911 Thysanoessa Brandt, 1851 Thysanopoda Latreille, 1831 Bentheuphausiidae Bentheuphausia amblyops Krill are shrimp-like marine... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) Range (in blue) The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, also known as white pointer, white shark, or white death, is an exceptionally large lamniforme shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. ... Binomial name Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810 The Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), commonly called Mako Shark, is a large shark of the Lamnidae family with a full-grown size of 2. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Orders Subclass Cestodaria Amphilinidea Gyrocotylidea Subclass Eucestoda Aporidea Caryophyllidea Cyclophyllidea Diphyllidea Lecanicephalidea Litobothridea Nippotaeniidea Proteocephalidea Pseudophyllidea Spathebothriidea Tetraphyllidea Trypanorhyncha In biology, Cestoda is the class of parasitic flatworms, called cestodes or tapeworms, that live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults and often in the bodies of various animals... In parasitology, an intermediate host is an organism within which a parasite does not sexually reproduce. ... In parasitology, the term paratenic describes an intermediate host which is not needed for the development of the parasite, but nonetheless serves to maintain the life cycle of the parasite. ...

The planktonic larvae of opah initially resemble those of certain ribbonfishes (Trachipteridae), but are distinguished by the former's lack of dorsal and pelvic fin ornamentation. The slender hatchlings later undergo a marked and rapid transformation from a slender to deep-bodied form; this transformation is complete by 10.6 millimetres standard length in Lampris guttatus. Opah are believed to have a low population resilience. Photomontage of plankton organisms Plankton are any drifting organism that inhabits the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. ... Genera See text for genera and species. ... For the band see Resilience (band) Resilience generally means the ability to recover from (or to resist being affected by) some shock, insult, or disturbance. ...

Species and range

• Lampris guttatus (Brünnich, 1788) [Opah] — from the Grand Banks to Argentina in the Western Atlantic; from Norway and Greenland to Senegal and south to Angola (also in the Mediterranean) in the Eastern Atlantic; from the Gulf of Alaska to southern California in the Eastern Pacific; in temperate waters of the Indian Ocean; and rare forays into the Southern Ocean.
• Lampris immaculatus Gilchrist, 1904 [Southern opah] — confined to the Southern Ocean from the 34th parallel south to the Antarctic Polar Front

1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Map showing the Grand Banks Historic map of the Grand Banks. ... The Atlantic Ocean forms a component of the all-encompassing World Ocean and is directly linked to the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, peaceful sea, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the largest of the Earths oceanic subdivisions. ... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The South Polar region The Antarctic Convergence, also known as the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone (or Polar Front for short), is a line encircling Antarctica where the cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters sink beneath the relatively warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. ...

See also

• List of fish families
• List of fish common names

This is a list of fish families sorted alphabetically by scientific name. ... This is a list of fish common names. ...

References

• "Lampridae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. February 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
• "Studying Pelagics: Discovering the long distance migration and deep diving behavior for large pelagics in the central North Pacific with pop-up archival transmitting tags". NOAA. February 2005 version.
• "Opah - Moonfish". Hawaii Seafood Buyer's Guide. February 2005 version. State of Hawaii.
• Fishes: An Introduction to ichthyology. Peter B. Moyle and Joseph J. Cech, Jr; p. 338. Printed in 2004. Prentice-Hall, Inc; Upper Saddle River, NJ. ISBN 0-13-100847-1
• Scholz, Tomáš; Euzet, Louis & Moravec, František (1998): Taxonomic status of Pelichnibothrium speciosum Monticelli, 1889 (Cestoda: Tetraphyllidea), a mysterious parasite of Alepisaurus ferox Lowe (Teleostei: Alepisauridae) and Prionace glauca (L.) (Euselachii: Carcharinidae). Systematic Parasitology 41(1): 1–8. DOI:10.1023/A:1006091102174 (HTML abstract)