OPAH. 



173 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



SCOMBERID^. 



THE OPAH, OR KING-FISH. 



Lampris guttatus, Retz. Cuviee, Regne Animal, t. ii. p. 211. 

 Zeus Luna, Gmfl. Linx. 



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

 „ Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 97. 

 ,, Imperialis, ,, 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 carinatedj 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 



