The Opah or moonfish (Lampris regius) is found worldwide in warm and temperate seas. This is a large fish with a rounded outline. Although flat bodied, this is a bulky fish that can reach 6 feet in length and weigh 500 pounds. The red fins will help identify this blue sided pale pink bellied fish with some small round white spots on the side. This fish is rarely caught, and experts wonder at what depth this species might be common, if any. This is considered an excellent food fish.

The Opah family (Lamprididae) contains a single species of fish that is found in all warm oceans of the world.

This order contains a number of diverse families of marine fish. Included here is the opah (moonfish), crestfishes, ribbonfishes, and the oar fish. This order has a total of about 20 species. Most are silver with red fins. There is a nice series of colored drawings in Migdalksi that shows the diversity in this order.

Bony fish, Class Teleostomi, are a class of chordates that include the majority of fish-like animals found on earth. They are characterized by a bony jaw and a bony skeleton. They are found in both fresh and marine waters.

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

NEW SEARCH