FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



247 



Color. — Described as silvery gray. 



Size. — About 10 inches long. 



General range and occurrence in the Gulf of 

 Maine. — This deep-water ground fish has been 

 taken at many localities off the American coast 



from the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico north- 

 ward along the continental slope to abreast of 

 southern Nova Scotia, in depths of 104 to 464 

 fathoms. It is included here because it has been 

 recorded once off Nantucket in 148 fathoms. 



THE OPAHS. FAMILY LAMPRIDAE 



For the characteristics of this family, see the 

 following description of its unique representative, 

 the opah. 



Opah Lampris regius (Bonnaterre) 1788 



Moonfish; Jerusalem haddock 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 954, as Lampris 

 luna (Gmelin) 1789. 



Figure 122. — Opali {Lampris regius). 

 and Bean. 



After Goode 



Description. — The thin, deep form of the opah 

 (trunk less than twice as long as it is deep) with 

 moderately slender caudal peduncle, which does 

 not have longitudinal keels, and the rather 

 pointed snout, might suggest an enormous butter- 

 fish, were it not provided with very long falcate 

 ventral fins, whereas the butterfish has no ventrals. 

 The ventrals, also, of the opah have 14 to 17 rays; 

 none of the mackerel or pompano tribes has more 

 than 8. 



The forward part of the single dorsal fin (53 to 

 55 rays) is high, its outlines strongly falcate. The 

 anal (38-41 rays) is shorter than the dorsal, and 

 it is about equal in height to the low part of the 

 dorsal throughout its length. Both anal and 

 dorsal fins extend back close to the base of the 

 caudal fin, and each of them is depressible in a 



groove. The tail fin is emarginate, the pectorals 

 are conspicuously pointed, with their bases hori- 

 zontal instead of vertical. The mouth is small 

 and toothless, the scales are minute, and the lat- 

 eral line is strongly arched upward above the pec- 

 toral fin, then downward toward the rear. 



Color. — We have never seen this fish alive, but 

 it is described as of a beautiful dark steel blue 

 above, shading into green with silver, purple, 

 gold, and lilac luster down the sides, and as rosy 

 on the belly, with vermilion fins, while the whole 

 body is speckled with silvery and milk-white spots. 



Size. — The opah grows to a length of 3 to 6 

 feet; most of them are 3 to 4 feet long. 



Habits.— The opah is usually spoken of as a 

 deep-sea fish, but this is a misnomer, for it is 

 caught on hook and line no deeper than 50 to 100 

 fathoms off Madeira, where it is taken in some 

 numbers. Being so very rare off our coast, we 

 need merely note that it feeds chiefly on squid, 

 isopods, and small fish, as well as on seaweeds; 

 that it is an excellent food fish; and that nothing 

 is known of its breeding habits. 



General range. — Open waters of the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans; recorded off Madeira, Scan- 

 dinavia, the British Isles, Norway, Iceland, New- 

 foundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, Cape Cod, and 

 Cuba in the North Atlantic; also in the Gulf of 

 Mexico off the west coast of Florida. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Two speci- 

 mens, only, of this oceanic wanderer have been 

 reported definitely within the limits of our Gulf, 

 one caught on a long line on Browns Bank in 

 the spring of 1932, 12 the other, weighing 165 

 pounds fresh, was taken in an otter trawl on the 

 northeastern part of Georges Bank, in August 

 1947. 13 



One also was reported from Maine by Goode 

 and Bean, 14 but this may have been based on 

 a letter to D. S. Jordan from Everett Smith, July 

 19, 18S8, reporting that a "Sun Fish," identified 



'» Reported by Vladykov, Proc. Nova Scotia Inst. Sci., vol. 19, 1935, p. 8. 



»' This specimen Is in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



M Goode and Bean. Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl.. vol. 30. 1895, p. 223. 



