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Family Bramidae — Pomfrets
120
Brama japonica Hilgendorf, 1878. Pacific Pomfret or Small-scaled Pomfret. To 61.0 cm (24 in) TL (Miller
and Lea 1972), but reported to 122 cm (4 ft; Jordan and Evermann 1896b). Southern Sea of Japan and
off southern coast of Korean Peninsula (Lindberg and Krasyukova 1969) to Pacific Ocean south of
Aleutian Islands and southern Bering Sea (Mecklenburg et al. 2002) to Chile (Robertson and Allen
2002); apparently absent from tropics (Robertson and Allen 2002). Oceanic, primarily epipelagic,
recorded from surface to 620 m (2,034 ft) (min.: Mead 1972; max.: Moser and Mundy in Moser 1996).
Brama orcini Cuvier, 1831. Bigbelly Pomfret or Bigtooth Pomfret. To 35 cm (13.75 in) TL (Eschmeyer and
Herald 1983). Mid-Pacific and Indian oceans (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) to Imperial Beach, southern
California (Mead 1972). The Imperial Beach record was a beached specimen. Surface to 100 m (328 ft;
Smith in Smith and Heemstra 1986).
Pteraclis aesticola (Jordan & Snyder, 1901). Pacific Fanfish. To 61.0 cm (24 in) TL (Miller and Lea 1972).
Cosmopolitan; Japan (Hatooka in Nakabo 2002); northern California (37°50'N, 125°W; SIO 90-73) to
Chile (Pequeño 1989). Pelagic.
Taractes asper Lowe, 1843. Flathead Pomfret or Rough Pomfret. To more than 50 cm (19.7 in) TL (Mecklenburg
et al. 2002). Circumglobal; Japan (Mochizuki in Masuda et al. 1984) to Gulf of Alaska off Kodiak Island
(Mecklenburg et al. 2002) to southern California (31°20'N, 121°10'W; Parin and Scherbachev 1998) to
Chile (Pequeño 1997). Oceanic, primarily pelagic (Mead 1972), from surface to depth of about 550 m
(1,804 ft; Mecklenburg et al. 2002).
Taractichthys steindachneri (Döderlein, 1883). Sicklefin Pomfret. To 91.4 cm (36 in) TL (Miller and Lea
1972). Warmer waters of Pacific and Indian oceans; Japan (Hatooka in Nakabo 2002); Point Conception,
California (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) and central Baja California (27°15'N, 118°16'W; SIO 89-101).
To depth of at least 300 m (984 ft; Myers and Donaldson 1996). Date of publication of the species
description is sometimes seen as 1884, but the correct date evidently is 1883 (Eschmeyer 1998 and
online editions).
Family Caristiidae — Manefishes or Veilfins
Taxonomically, this group is poorly understood. Undescribed species have been reported (e.g., Hatooka in
Nakabo 2002:1552) and consensus is lacking on nomenclature of the named Pacific species. Manefishes
are meso- and bathypelagic as adults and epi- and mesopelagic as larvae and juveniles (Paxton in
Carpenter and Niem 2001:2837).
Caristius macropus (Bellotti, 1903). Bigmouth Manefish or Veilfin. To more than 39 cm (15.3 in) TL (UW
44441; 33 cm SL). Widespread in Pacific Ocean; Japan (Fuji in Masuda et al. 1984) to southern Bering
Sea, Aleutian Islands (Mecklenburg et al. 2002; additional western Alaska records include UW 41927,
UW 44232, UW 44420, UW 44441, UW 44494), and Gulf of Alaska (D. J. Csepp, pers. comm. to C. W. M.;
AB 03-09) to central Baja California near Isla Cedros (Hart 1973). Pelagic, adults at 200 m (656 ft) to
more than 740 m (2,428 ft) (min.: UW 20920; max.: Amaoka in Amaoka et al. 1983 [2 specimens caught
at 740–1,420 m]).
*Caristius maderensis Maul, 1949. To perhaps 30 cm (11.8 in) TL (Post in Whitehead et al. 1986). Atlantic
and possibly Pacific oceans; reported from northern Baja California (Berry and Perkins 1966) nearly to
the equator (SIO 64–175). Beltrán-León and Rios Herrera (2000) identified larvae taken off Colombia.
The species called C. maderensis in the eastern Pacific may not be that species (Moser in Moser 1996).
Pelagic, adults at 300–2,000 m (984–6,560 ft; Post in Whitehead et al. 1986).