Opah
Genus of fishes / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Opahs, also commonly known as moonfish, sunfish (not to be confused with Molidae), kingfish, and redfin ocean pan are large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fishes comprising the small family Lampridae (also spelled Lamprididae).
Opah | |
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Lampris guttatus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Lampriformes |
Family: | Lampridae Gill, 1862 |
Genus: | Lampris Retzius, 1799 |
Species | |
See text |
The family comprises two genera: Lampris (from Ancient Greek λαμπρός (lamprós) 'brilliant, clear') and the monotypic Megalampris[2] (known only from fossil remains). The extinct family, Turkmenidae, from the Paleogene of Central Asia, is closely related, though much smaller.
In 2015, Lampris guttatus was discovered to have near-whole-body endothermy[3][4][5] in which the entire core of the body is maintained at around 5 °C above the surrounding water. This is unique among fish as most fish are entirely cold blooded or are capable of warming only some parts of their bodies.