Gnomefish

The gnomefishes form a small family, Scombropidae, consisting of three extant species of marine ray-finned fish in the genus Scombrops. They have two dorsal fins and are notable for scales covering the soft parts of the dorsal and anal fins. The eyes are large. The gnomefish, S. boops, lives in deep rocky areas, down to 400 m. It can grow to 150 cm total length and 16 kg weight.

Gnomefish Temporal range: Early Eocene to Present[1]
S. oculatus, Atlantic gnomefish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Acropomatiformes
Family:	Scombropidae Gill, 1862[2]
Genus:	Scombrops Temminck & Schlegel, 1845 [3]
Type species
Scombrops cheilodipteroides Bleeker, 1853[3]
Species
see text

S. gilberti occurs in the western Pacific including Japan. The Atlantic scombrops, S. oculatus, is widely found in the subtropical western Atlantic, particularly the Florida and Bahamas area. It is a deepwater fish, caught by anglers between 200 and 610 m.

Species

The following species are classified within the genus Scombrops:^[4]

• Scombrops boops (Houttuyn, 1782)
• Scombrops gilberti (Jordan & Snyder, 1901)
• Scombrops oculatus (Poey, 1860)

The Scombropidae have been put forward as the sister taxon to the Pempheridae by some authorities.^[5]