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Scissortail
Psenes pellucidus Lütken, 1880
A juvenile Scissortail washed up on Lagoon Beach, Lord Howe Island, following strong winds, October 2000. View larger image.
The Scissortail has a compressed (glossary) body with tiny scales and soft flabby musculature. It has a blunt snout and large eyes.
The first dorsal fin is short-based and rounded. The second dorsal fin and anal fin are long-based. The caudal fin is forked.
Adult Scissortail are dark brown to purplish. Juveniles are silvery with broad dark blue to black stripes in the second dorsal and anal fins.
This species grows to 80cm in length.
It occurs in tropical and some temperate waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The Australian distribution of this species is uncertain. It is known to occur off New South Wales and South Australia but is thought to occur more widely including deep tropical waters.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- McDowall, R.M. in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Haedrich, R.L. & M.H. Horn. 1972. A Key to the Stromateoid Fishes. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Technical Report. Pp. 46.
- Last, P.R 2001. Nomeidae in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 6. Bony Fishes part 4 (Labridae to Latimeriidae), estuarine crocodiles, sea turtles, sea snakes and marine mammals. FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-v, 3381-4218.
