OP AH. 



173 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



SCOMBERIDjE. 



THE OPAH, OR KING-FISH. 



Lampris giittatus, Retz. Cuvier, Regne Animal, t. ii. p. 211. 



Zeus Luna, Gmfl. Linn. 



„ ,, Opah, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 299, pi. 46. 



„ „ ,, Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 97. 



,, Iinperialis, ,, Shaw, Nat. Misc. pi. 140. 



Lampris Luna, ,, Flem. Brit. An. p. 219, sp. 168. 



Generic Characters. — Body oval, greatly compressed, scales small ; a single 

 elevated and elongated dorsal fin ; sides of the tail carinated ; teeth wanting ; 

 branchiostegous rays 7. 



The Opah, or King-fish, originally included in the 

 genus Zeus, has been removed by some authors, on account 

 of its possessing but a single dorsal fin ; and the generic term 

 Lampris has been applied to distinguish it. 



This fish is as beautiful as it is rare. At the date of the 

 first edition of Pennant*'s British Zoology, only about five 

 examples were recorded as having been taken in different 

 parts of the British Islands ; four of them in the north, and 



