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-bodied fish classified in the family Stromateidae of butterfishes.
| Peprilus paru | |
|---|---|
| Specimen from the Gulf of Mexico | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scombriformes |
| Family: | Stromateidae |
| Genus: | Peprilus |
| Species: | P. paru |
| Binomial name | |
| Peprilus paru | |
| Synonyms | |
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These fish grow usually to about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length, and are deep-bodied and circular-shaped, with curved fins, rounded nose and small mouth. Harvestfish are greenish silvery above, silvery sometimes tinged with yellow on its sides and belly and the fins of some individuals are slightly dusky or yellowish. Their habitat is the subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic: Chesapeake Bay and northern Gulf of Mexico in United States to Argentina. Harvestfish are sometimes caught commercially as a food fish.