The family Stromateidae or butterfish contains 15 species of fish in three genera. Butterfishes live in coastal waters off the Americas, western Africa and in the Indo-Pacific. The endemic New Zealand species ''

Odax pullus ''Odax pullus'', the greenbone or butterfish, is a species of ray-finned fish, a weed whiting from the family Odacidae, which is found around New Zealand. It inhabits shallow, rocky areas with brown algae growth, mainly ''Carpophyllum'', upon ...

'' is commonly called butterfish, but is from a separate family

Odacidae The Odacidae are a small family of ray-finned fishes formerly classified within the order Perciformes, commonly known as cales, and weed whitings. They are related to the much larger families of the wrasses and parrotfish. More recent workers hav ...

. The Japanese butterfish ''Psenopsis anomala'' is from the separate family Centrolophidae. The African butter catfish is also known as the butter fish. In South Australia, the ''

Argyrosomus japonicus ''Argyrosomus japonicus'' is a silvery to bronze-green colored fish, a member of the family Sciaenidae, which may grow up to in length. It is known as Japanese meagre (FAO), mulloway or jewfish on the east coast of Australia, butterfish in South ...

'' is commonly called butterfish as well.

Species

* Genus ''

Pampus Pampus () is an artificial island and late 19th-century sea fort located in the IJmeer near Amsterdam. Pampus now belongs to the municipality of Gooise Meren and is open to visitors. Together with the artillery battery on the lighthouse islan ...

'' **

Silver or white pomfret ''Pampus argenteus'', the silver pomfret or white pomfret, is a species of butterfish that lives in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the coastal waters of the Middle East, Eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The species ha ...

, '' Pampus argenteus'' (Euphrasen, 1788); Synonym: ''P. cinereus'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi * Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur * Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor jour ...

, 1795). ** Chinese silver pomfret, '' Pampus chinensis'' (Euphrasen, 1788): ** '' Pampus echinogaster'' (Basilewsky, 1855). ** Southern lesser pomfret, '' Pampus minor'' Liu & Li, 1998. ** '' Pampus punctatissimus'' (

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temmin ...

& Schlegel, 1845). * Genus ''

Peprilus ''Peprilus'' is a genus of fish in the family Stromateidae found in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Species There are currently 9 recognized species in this genus: * '' Peprilus burti'' Fowler, 1944 (Gulf butterfish) * '' Peprilus crenulatus'' G. ...

'' **

Gulf butterfish The Gulf butterfish (''Peprilus burti'') is a fish species of the family Stromateidae found in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of the Eastern United States.Page, L.M., Espinosa-Perez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, R.N. Lea, N.E. Mandrak, R.L. Ma ...

, ''

Peprilus burti The Gulf butterfish (''Peprilus burti'') is a fish species of the family Stromateidae found in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of the Eastern United States.Page, L.M., Espinosa-Perez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, R.N. Lea, N.E. Mandrak, R.L. Ma ...

'' Fowler, 1944. **

Pacific harvestfish The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, ''

Peprilus medius ''Peprilus'' is a genus of fish in the family Stromateidae found in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Species There are currently 9 recognized species in this genus: * '' Peprilus burti'' Fowler, 1944 (Gulf butterfish) * '' Peprilus crenulatus'' G. ...

'' (Peters, 1869). ** Shining butterfish, ''

Peprilus ovatus ''Peprilus'' is a genus of fish in the family Stromateidae found in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Species There are currently 9 recognized species in this genus: * '' Peprilus burti'' Fowler, 1944 (Gulf butterfish) * '' Peprilus crenulatus'' G. ...

'' Horn, 1970. ** Harvestfish (American harvestfish) ''

Peprilus paru ''Peprilus paru'', (harvestfish or American harvestfish; syn. ''Peprilus alepidotus''), also occasionally known by a few local names as star butter fish or sometimes even simply as butterfish, is a marine, benthopelagic, circular-shaped and deep- ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoological ...

). ** Pacific pompano, '' Peprilus simillimus'' (Ayres, 1860). ** Salema butterfish, '' Peprilus snyderi'' Gilbert & Starks, 1904. **

Atlantic butterfish The American butterfish (''Peprilus triacanthus''), also known as the Atlantic butterfish, is a butterfish of the family Stromateidae.Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2019). FishBase. Peprilus triacanthus (Peck, 1804). Accessed through: World R ...

(aka American butterfish), '' Peprilus triacanthus'' (Peck, 1804).FishBase Common names of Peprilus triacanthus
/ref> * Genus ''

Stromateus ''Stromateus'' is a genus of bony fish from the butterfish family Stromateidae, of which it is the type genus. Species There are three species within the genus ''Stromateus'': *''Stromateus brasiliensis'' Fowler, 1906 (Southwest Atlantic butt ...

'' ** Southwest Atlantic butterfish, '' Stromateus brasiliensis'' Fowler, 1906. **

Blue butterfish Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

, '' Stromateus fiatola''

. ** Starry butterfish, ''

Stromateus stellatus ''Stromateus'' is a genus of bony fish from the butterfish family Stromateidae, of which it is the type genus. Species There are three species within the genus ''Stromateus'': *''Stromateus brasiliensis'' Fowler, 1906 (Southwest Atlantic butt ...

'' Cuvier, 1829.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

Pleist. The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of ...

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:eocene bar:NAM1 from: -55.8 till: 0 text:

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Mislabelling

Escolar The escolar, ''Lepidocybium flavobrunneum'', a species of fish in the family Gempylidae, is found in deep (200–885 metres, or 656–2,904 ft) tropical and temperate waters around the world. It is also known as snake mackerel, ' ( Hawaii ...

is sometimes fraudulently labelled as butterfish. This can be more hazardous than other fish mislabeling due to the potential health effects of escolar.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1283115 Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque