Stromateidae

The family Stromateidae or butterfish contains 15 species of fish in three genera. Butterfishes live in coastal waters off the Americas, western Africa and in the Indo-Pacific.

Butterfish
Peprilus paru
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Clade: Percomorpha
Order: Scombriformes
Suborder: Stromateoidei
Family: Stromateidae
Rafinesque, 1810
Genera

See text for species.

The endemic New Zealand species Odax pullus is commonly called butterfish, but is from a separate family Odacidae. The Japanese butterfish Psenopsis anomala is from the separate family Centrolophidae. The African butter catfish is also known as the butter fish. In South Australia, the Argyrosomus japonicus is commonly called butterfish as well.

Species

Timeline

QuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleoceneStromateusQuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleocene

Mislabelling

Escolar is sometimes fraudulently labelled as butterfish. This can be more hazardous than other fish mislabeling due to the potential health effects of escolar.

References

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