Genus: Taractes, Keeltail Pomfret, Pomfrets
snout pointed
TARACTES
POMFRETS
Head and body compressed, moderately elongated (body depth 36-45% of SL); snout pointed; upper head profile straight, oblique; eye large; mouth opens at front, strongly oblique, the rear of the top jaw wide, exposed and covered with scales; the single dorsal and anal fins have long bases, similar shapes and sizes, I-III spines; dorsal and anal fins low, with large pointed lobes at front; pectoral low on body, long, reaches past front lobe of anal fin; pelvics not tiny, 13-19% of SL, inserted just before pectoral base; tail deeply concave; tail base with a large, long keel made of fused scales, and a well developed transverse groove before tail fin; scales large; dorsal & anal fins scaly, no scaly sheath along base of those fins; adults without lateral line; juveniles with very long fins.
A circumglobal genus with a disjunctive distribution (absent for the eastern Indian Ocean and central Pacific); with 2 species (1 circumglobal and 1 Atlantic + Pacific), both of which occur in our region.
