Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system

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Family: PRIACANTHIDAE, Bigeye, Bigeyes, Bullseyes, Catalufas, Glasseyes


All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

very large eye
D X, 11-15
mouth large, v oblique
pelvic: inserted before pectoral, joined to body by skin fold
A III

FAMILY PRIACANTHIDAE

BIGEYES, BULLSEYES, CATALUFAS, GLASSEYES

Medium sized fishes (25-70 cm) with strongly compressed, deep bodies; very large eyes; a large, upturned, oblique mouth with a projecting lower jaw; no spines on the head; most with a prominent to flat spine at bottom corner of the preopercle; fin spines with tiny spines; dorsal fin X, 11-15; anal fin III, 10-16; pelvic fins short to long, inserted before pectoral base, widely joined to the belly; tail fin variably shaped; small scales.

The family occurs in all warm seas and contains four genera with 19 species, all but three of which inhabit the Indo-West Pacific region. In our region there are four species from four genera, two of them circumtropical, one trans-Atlantic and one W Atlantic.

PREPARED BY D ROSS ROBERTSON, AFTER STARNES (2002)