Species: Hyperoglyphe perciformis, Barrelfish, Barrelfish Driftfish

Hyperoglyphe perciformis (Mitchill, 1818)

Barrelfish, Barrelfish Driftfish

Body moderately elongate (depth 30-35% of SL), compressed; head covered with pores; blunt, thick snout, its length > eye; eye large, without fleshy eyelid; bony ring around eye not well developed, iris is an entire golden ring; mouth large; most of top jaw hidden under bone above it; roof of mouth toothless; preopercle edge with numerous tiny spines; opercle thin, with 2 weak flat spines; gill rakers heavy, finely toothed on front surface, 7+1 + 15-17; one continuous, long-based, low dorsal fin, VIII-IX short stout spines of uniform length, 19-21 soft rays, origin over or a little behind pectoral base; anal origin under rear 1/2 of dorsal, III, 15-17; pelvic fins origin under base of pectoral, fin attached to body by membrane and folds into a groove; tail fin forked; pectorals 20-22, rounded in young, pointed in adult; scales smooth, somewhat loose, covering bases of median fins; skin thin, with an extensive canal system underneath that opens to surface via small pores; lateral line arched, straightens out over anal fin; 89-95 lateral line scales.

Adults dark, greenish to brownish; young blackish, with mottling.

Reaches 91 cm.

Near bottom pelagic; young associate with flotsam.

Depth range: 0-1066 m, adults below 60 m.

Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico; strays to the eastern Atlantic.