A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Peprilus triacanthus

Butterfish
NS G5
Collection Details

Specimens

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Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri) Stromateidae (Butterfishes) Peprilus Peprilus triacanthus (Butterfish)

Description

This species account was compiled from Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Synonymy

Poronotus triacanthus (Peck, 1804) / None.

Characters

Body oval to somewhat elongate, moderately deep (its depth 2.7 to 3 times in total length) and strongly compressed. Eye medium-sized (its diameter 3.4 to 3.7 times in head length), surrounded by a sm all area of adipose tissue. Snout short and blunt, lower jaw projecting somewhat beyond upper. Mouth sm all, tip of maxillary not reaching to anterior eye margin; teeth in jaws very sm all, in a single row; those in the upper jaw flattened and with 3 tiny cusps. Dorsal and anal-fin bases very long (about equal in length), the anterior fin rays elevated, but fins not falcate; both fins preceeded by 3 short, weak, spines; caudal fin deeply forked; pectoral fins long (longer than head) and pointed; pelvic fins absent. A conspicu- ous series of 17 to 25 pores along anterior half of body under dorsal fin; lateral line high, following dorsal profile; scales sm all, present also on cheeks. Caudal vertebrae 17 to 20. Colour: pale blue above, silvery be- low; numerous irregular dark spots on sides in live fish (fading after death).
Body shape: fusiform / normal. This species is distinguished by the following characters: body oval to somewhat elongate, moderately deep (its depth 2.7 to 3 times in total length) and strongly compressed; eye medium-sized (its diameter 3.4 to 3.7 times in head length), surrounded by a small area of adipose tissue; snout short and blunt, lower jaw projecting somewhat beyond upper; mouth small, tip of maxillary not reaching to anterior eye margin; teeth in jaws very small, in a single row, while those in the upper jaw flattened and with 3 tiny cusps; dorsal and anal-fin bases very long (about equal in length), the anterior fin rays elevated, but fins not falcate, and both fins preceded by 3 short, weak, spines; caudal fin deeply forked; pectoral fins long (longer than head) and pointed; pelvic fins absent; a conspicuous series of 17 to 25 pores along anterior half of body under dorsal fin; lateral line high, following dorsal profile; scales small, present also on cheeks; caudal vertebrae 17 to 20; body color pale blue above, silvery below; numerous irregular dark spots on sides in live fish (fading after death) (Ref. 53006). Striking features: none.

Distribution

Atlantic coast of Florida in sh allow and deep water, may stray very r arely around the coast into the Gulf of Mexico; absent from Bermuda, the Ba- hamas and the Caribbean. Northward the spe- cies is found along the USA Atlantic coast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence (greatest abundance is be- tween Cape Hatteras and Maine) and there are tiny populations in sou theastern Newfoundl and.

Habitat Associations

A pelagic fish forming large loose schools across the continental shelf and into large brackish estuaries; over s and/mud bottoms and at depths gener ally less than 55 m, except during the winter months when it may descend to almost 200 m in deeper waters offshore; juveniles are often found under floating weeds and with jellyfish. Adults feed on jellyfish, sm all fish, crustaceans, and worms; the juve- niles are plankton and jellyfish feeders; butterfish are themselves important forage species. Mature at 1 year and live to about 3 or more; spawning takes place a few miles offshore; different populations spawn at very dif- ferent times of the year. The fishery, which dates to 1800, is concentrated north of the area in the Middle Atlantic Bight where l andings in 1996 were 3 600 t. FAO statistics report l andings rang- ing from 568 to 1889 t from 1995 to 1999.

Biology

Maximum to 30 cm, commonly to 20 cm.
Forms large schools over the continental shelf, except during the winter months when it may descend to deeper water. Juveniles are generally found under floating weeds and jellyfish. Often found in brackish waters (Ref. 26938). Nerito-pelagic (Ref. 58426). Adults feeds mainly on jellyfish (Ref. 26938), squids, arrow worms, crustaceans and worms (Ref. 58426). Marketed fresh, smoked and frozen; eaten fried, broiled and baked (Ref. 9988). Mostly frozen and exported to Japan.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Also Ref. 101194.
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: High (K=0.8(?); tm=1).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Highly esteemed as a foodfish, marketed fresh and frozen; caught mainly with otter trawls, but also with seines, pound nets, and h andlines.

References

Amaoka, K. and E. Yamamoto. 1984. Review of the genus Chascanopsetta, with the description of a new species. Bull. Fac. Fisher. Hokkaido Univ., 35:201-224.
Anderson, W.W., and E.J. Gutherz. 1967. Revision of the flatfish genus Trichopsetta (Bothidae) with descriptions of three new species. Bull. Mar. Sci., 17(4):892-913. Cervigón, F., and nine co-authors. 1993. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Field guide to the commercial marine and brackish-water resources of the northern coast of South America. Rome, FAO, 513 p.
Gutherz, E.J. 1967. Field guide to the flatfishes of the family Bothidae in the western North Atlantic. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Circ., 263, 47 p.
Hensley, D. 1995. Bothidae. In W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter, and V.H. Niem. Guía FAO para la identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Pacifico centro-oriental. Vol. II:931-936.
Randall, J.E., and R. Vergara R. 1978. Bothidae. In Fischer, W. (ed.), FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Central Atlantic (fishing area 31). Vols. 1-7, FAO, Rome.
Topp, R.W., and F.H. Hoff, Jr. 1972. Flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes). Mem. Hourglass Cruises, Fla. Dep. Nat. Resour., St.
Petersburg, Florida, 4(2):1-135.
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Vergara, R. (1978) Stromateidae. In W. Fischer (ed.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Central Atlantic (fishing area 31). Vol. 5. FAO, Rome. pag. var.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Coad, B.W. and J.D. Reist (2004) Annotated list of the arctic marine fishes of Canada. Can. MS Rep. Fish Aquat. Sci. 2674:iv:+112 p.

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