Species: Pterycombus brama, Atlantic Fanfish, Atlantic Fanfish Pomfret

Pterycombus brama Fries, 1837

Atlantic Fanfish, Atlantic Fanfish Pomfret

Head and body compressed, an elongate oval tapering to slender tail base; forehead profile convex; snout short, bluntly rounded; eye larger than snout; between eyes strongly rounded;mouth at front, strongly oblique, the rear of the top jaw wide, exposed and covered with scales; lower edges of bottom jawbone not touching along midline under head; rear nostril a slit; 6-7 gill rakers;the single dorsal and anal fins have long bases, similar shapes and sizes, I-III spines; dorsal fin origin over eye; dorsal and anal fin scaleless, high and sail-like (much higher in juvenile than adult), both can be depressed into a groove formed by a row of elongate scales along the base of the fin, that sheath not extending beyond origin onto snout; front rays of dorsal and anal fins of similar thickness, none enlarged; front of dorsal fin scale-sheath crossed by scales; dorsal 45-51; anal 39-43; pectoral 20-22; pectoral low on body, long, reaches to ~middle of anal fin; pelvics small, inserted before pectoral base; tail base, without transverse grooves; tail forked, stiff; scales small, cover body, nape, cheeks, operculum, and top jaw; scales on head smooth, those on body with small spines that increase in size towards rear of body; scales at end of tail base not abruptly larger than those at front of tail fin.

Body silvery grey; dorsal, anal and tail and pelvics blackish, pectoral clear; rear part of eye and iris black; inside mouth dusky.

Size: 46 cm.

Habitat: oceanic pelagic.

Depth: 25-400 m.

The tropical and temperate Atlantic; Newfoundland to the N Caribbean.