Species: Cookeolus japonicus, Bulleye, Bigeye, Longfin Bigeye, Longfin Bulleye

Cookeolus japonicus (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1829)

Bulleye, Bigeye, Longfin Bigeye, Longfin Bulleye

Body a compressed oval; bone before eye with large serrations at front; a large, upturned, oblique mouth with a projecting lower jaw; no spines on the head; preopercle spineless; gill rakers 23-27; fin spines with tiny spines; dorsal fin X, 13-14, spines increasing in length from 1st to last, 10th spine > 2x length of 2nd; anal III, 12-14; soft dorsal and anal fins long and bluntly pointed (except in very large fish); pelvic fins very long, > head length (except in specimens > 35 cm), broadly fused to belly; tail edge W shaped; scales moderate sized, 60-73 in lateral series, 16-20 between dorsal fin origin and lateral line.

Crimson to scarlet red to yellowish red, including fins and iris of eye; pelvic fin membranes dusky to blackish.

Size: attains 68 cm.

Habitat: rocky bottoms.

Depth: generally found in deep water (100-400 m), but occasionally to ~ 40 m.

Circumglobal in tropical seas; Virginia to Argentina.