''Cookeolus japonicus'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fish in the family

Priacanthidae The Priacanthidae, the bigeyes, are a Family (biology), family of 18 species of marine ray-finned fishes. "Catalufa (disambiguation), Catalufa" is an alternate common name for some members of the Priacanthidae. The etymology of the scientific ...

, the bigeyes and catalufas. It is the only extant species of ''

Cookeolus ''Cookeolus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes from the family Priacanthidae, the bigeyes. It contains one extant species and one extinct species. Species The following species are classified within the genus ''Cookeolus'': *'' Cookeolus ...

'', except for '' C. spinolacrymatus'', an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Late Pliocene Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * Late (The 77s album), ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudo ...

fish known from a

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

specimen collected in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan. ''C. japonicus'' is found throughout the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

oceans, except the East Atlantic. In the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

its distribution extends from South Africa to Japan to Australia, in the eastern Pacific from Mexico to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, in the West Atlantic from Canada to Argentina, and at

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in the South Atlantic. Common names for the fish include longfinned bullseye, deepwater bullseye, big-fin bigeye (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

), ''buloog'' (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

), ''deek'' (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

), ''baga-baga'' ( Cebuano), ''bukaw-bukaw'' ( Hiligaynon), ''siga'' (

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

), ''beauclaire longue aile'' (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

), ''chikame-kintoki'' (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

), ''fura-vasos alfonsim'' (

Mozambican Portuguese Mozambican Portuguese () refers to the varieties of Portuguese spoken in Mozambique. Portuguese is the official language of the country. Several variables factor into the emergence of Mozambican Portuguese. Mozambique shares the linguistic n ...

), and ''catalufa aleta larga'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

).Common names of ''Cookeolus japonicus''.
FishBase.

Description

This species reaches up to long, but is more often around . Specimens weighing have been noted. Fish of this family are known for their thick scales and large eyes, which take up about half the length of the head. This species is the largest in the Priacanthidae. It can also be distinguished from others in the family by its long

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s. These are longest, relative to body size, in smaller individuals. The tail fin is rounded. The fish has an elongated oval shape as an adult and is laterally compressed. It is red in color, and all the fins may be yellowish except the pectorals, which are pink to colorless. The membranes between the dorsal spines may be slightly darkened to totally black, and the long pelvic fins may be quite dark. The juvenile is not well known but it is likely silver in color. The appearance of the fish shows some geographical variation, mainly in size. The life span of the fish is up to about 9 years.

Ecology

Many catalufas commonly live in the waters around islands. This species lives around

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s at depths up to , though it is usually found between . It lives around rocks and ledges with invertebrate life such as

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

s and

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s. Its diet includes

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, especially

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s. Predators of the fish include

yellowfin tuna The yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from the Hawaiian , a name also used there for the closely related bigeye ...

(''Thunnus albacares''). This fish is parasitized by the

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s '' Parashiinoa cookeola'' and '' Caligus cookeoli''.Bailly, N. (2013)
''Cookeolus japonicus'' (Cuvier, 1829).
In: Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds. FishBase. World Register of Marine Species. Accessed on 9 June 2013.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2274174 Priacanthidae Commercial fish Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Fish of Aruba