Marine pelagic and deep-sea fish

Leedsichthys

Leedsichthys (Leedsichthys problematicus) is an extinct giant pachycormiform ray-finned fish from the Middle to Late Jurassic, about 165–152 million years ago, the largest bony fish ever at up to 16.5 m and roughly 44.9 tonnes, a plankton filter feeder known only from fragmentary fossils.

Liparidae

Liparidae, the snailfishes (Liparididae), is a family of about 460 marine teleost species in 32 genera, scaleless and jellylike, from tidepools to 8,336 m, dominating hadal trench fish faunas worldwide.

Lophius

Lophius (monkfish, goosefish, anglerfish) is a genus of seven lophiid anglerfish species that ambush prey on the seabed using an illicium lure; commercially important in Atlantic, Mediterranean, and southern African fisheries.

Mackerel

Mackerel: epipelagic Scombridae fish, chiefly Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) and chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus); fast-growing schooling predators, heavily fished, oily flesh, managed under ICES and NOAA plans.

Macrouridae

Macrouridae, the grenadiers or rattails, is a large family of gadiform deep-sea fishes with about 375-400 species, whip-like tails lacking a caudal fin, benthopelagic habits from 200 to 7,000 m, and modest trawl fisheries.

Macruronus novaezelandiae

Macruronus novaezelandiae, hoki or blue grenadier, is a Merlucciidae hake of New Zealand and Australia. It supports New Zealand's largest finfish fishery, spawns June–September, and its 2025 assessment placed stocks within the 35–50% target range.

Mahi-mahi

Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), also dolphinfish or dorado; Hawaiian for strong; fast-growing epipelagic game fish reaching 7 ft and 88 lb, maturing at 4-5 months, caught worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters.

Marlin

Marlin: large bill-nosed predatory fishes of the family Istiophoridae, including blue (Makaira nigricans), black (Istiompax indica), striped (Kajikia audax), and white marlin; prized game fish managed by ICCAT, IATTC, WCPFC, and IOTC.

Menidia menidia

Menidia menidia, the Atlantic silverside (capucette), is a small annual atherinopsid fish of western Atlantic estuaries from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida, known for countergradient latitudinal growth adaptation and an exceptionally diverse genome.

Micromesistius poutassou

Micromesistius poutassou, blue whiting (bacaladilla, merlan bleu), a small mesopelagic gadid of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean; dense-schooling plankton feeder supporting a major pelagic fishery with 2026 ICES advice of 851,344 tonnes.

Mugilidae

Mugilidae, the grey mullets, sole family of Mugiliformes: coastal schooling fishes of tropical to temperate seas, about 26 genera and 78 species, revised to 25 genera after molecular phylogenies overturned morphology-based taxonomy.

Naucrates ductor

Naucrates ductor, the pilotfish (pez piloto, poisson pilote), a circumtropical carangid fish that accompanies sharks, rays, turtles, and ships, feeding on scraps, parasites, and excrement; IUCN Least Concern.

Needlefish

Needlefish (Belonidae) are slender surface predators with a full, toothed beak of equal jaws, from 6-7 cm freshwater forms to 2 m marine species, worldwide in tropical and temperate waters.

Oarfish

Oarfish (Regalecus glesne, king of herrings, doomsday fish): the longest bony fish, a ribbon-shaped deep-sea lampriform reaching 8 m and 272 kg, circumglobal in tropical and temperate seas, feeding on krill by suction.

Ocean sunfish

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola, common mola), a large pelagic Molidae fish of temperate and tropical seas; second-largest bony fish, generalist jellyfish-inclusive feeder, IUCN vulnerable, declining over 10% per decade; heaviest weighed specimen belongs to Mola alexandrini.

Opah

Opah, or moonfish (Lampris spp.), is a large deep-bodied pelagic fish and the only known fully warm-blooded fish, heating its body via pectoral fin flapping and gill heat exchangers; a five-species complex caught as bycatch in tuna and swordfish fisheries.

Orange roughy

Orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus, slimehead) is a deep-sea trachichthyid fish living 700-1,400 m, reaching 120-150 years and maturing at 27-32; heavily overfished after 1980s boom, now quota-managed in Australia and New Zealand.

Pampus argenteus

Pampus argenteus, the silver pomfret (zobaidy), is a deep-bodied stromateid fish of the Indo-West Pacific from the Persian Gulf to Japan, a highly commercial schooling zooplankton feeder supporting major fisheries and emerging aquaculture.

Pelagic fish

Pelagic fish live in the water column, away from bottom and shore, in coastal seas, open oceans, and lakes. Coastal pelagics (anchovies, sardines) and oceanic pelagics (tuna, swordfish) differ by depth; many school and serve as forage fish.

Pelecus cultratus

Pelecus cultratus, the sichel or sabrefish (ziege), a pelagic anadromous cyprinid of Black, Caspian, Aral, and Baltic basins; up to 60 cm, 2 kg, 11 years; IUCN Least Concern, minor commercial fishery.

Pelican eel

Pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides), also called gulper eel, a deep-sea eel and the only species of Eurypharyngidae, with a mouth half its preanal length, a luminous tail organ, and a unique mitochondrial gene order, living at 500–3,000 m worldwide.

Peprilus paru

Peprilus paru, the American harvestfish (basionym Stromateus paru), is a deep-bodied western Atlantic butterfish (Stromateidae) from the northeastern USA to Brazil, reaching 36 cm, schooling at 15–136 m and feeding on jellyfish.

Peprilus triacanthus

Peprilus triacanthus, the American or Atlantic butterfish, a small deep-bodied stromateid fish of the northwest Atlantic from Florida to Newfoundland; short-lived, schooling, commercially fished by the U.S., stock not overfished.

Pomfret

Pomfret: market name for deep-bodied food fishes of Stromateidae (Pampus argenteus, Pampus chinensis) and Bramidae (Brama); golden pomfret is the pompano Trachinotus ovatus. Major Asian fisheries, Chinese pomfret most prized.

Rastrelliger kanagurta

Rastrelliger kanagurta, the Indian mackerel (Japanese グルクマ), a schooling Scombridae fish of the tropical Indo-West Pacific; plankton feeder, highly commercial, IUCN Least Concern, FAO catches near 300,000 t.

Remora

The remora, also called sharksucker or suckerfish, is a marine fish with a head suction disc, a modified dorsal fin, that attaches to sharks, turtles, and whales.

Sablefish

Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria), or black cod, is a long-lived deepwater fish of the North Pacific Ocean. It is highly valued in commercial fisheries for its oily flesh.

Sailfish

Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), a circumtropical billfish with a sail-like dorsal fin, once split into Atlantic and Indo-Pacific species. Real top speed about 8.3 m/s, not 35 m/s; two populations, IUCN vulnerable.

Sarda sarda

Sarda sarda, the Atlantic bonito, is a coastal pelagic Scombridae small tuna of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea; striped, fast-growing, heavily fished, and largely unmanaged in U.S. waters.