Lampridae

Lampridae 

a family of marine fishes of the order Allotriog-nathi (Lampridiformes). The only species is the opah, or moonfish (Lampris regius), which is sometimes incorrectly identified as the ocean sunfish. The body is long and strongly compressed laterally. The opah is medium blue with small silvery white spots. It measures up to 2 m. It has small scales and a small, toothless mouth. The fins are bright red and soft-rayed. The pectoral and pelvic fins are long and sickle-shaped; the dorsal fin has a tall anterior sickle-shaped lobe. The opah is distributed in the temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, staying far from the shores. It is usually found at depths of 100 to 400 m. The opah feeds on plankton.

REFERENCE

Lindberg, G. U., and M. I. Legeza. Ryby Iaponskogo moria i sopredeV-nykh chastei Okhotskogo i Zheltogo morei, part 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1965. Page 291.

G. U. LINDBERG