southern opah

Open encyclopedia reference

Lampris immaculatus, commonly known as the southern opah or southern moonfish, is a species of fish native to the Southern Ocean. The species is found commonly in New Zealand waters. They are caught commercially using long-line fishery in New Zealand. The most common prey species for the southern opah are juvenile onychoteuthid squid Moroteuthis ingens, which were found in 93% of 69 fish. It was discovered that 14% of the opahs contained plastic pollutants in their digestive tract, which indicates signs of high plastic pollution in the Southwest Atlantic.

Wikipedia contributors, Lampris immaculatus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:33:59.782056+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Lampris immaculatus Gilchrist, 1904

Name authority

Gilchrist, 1904

Common name

southern opah

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Lampriformes

Family

Lampridae

Genus

Lampris

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderLampriformes
11. familyLampridae Gill, 1862
12. genusLampris Retzius, 1799
13. speciesLampris immaculatus Gilchrist, 1904

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Lampris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 4 records assigned to Lampridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Gilchrist, J. D. F. (1904). Descriptions of new South African fishes. Marine Investigations in South Africa, v. 3: 1–16, Pls. 19–36. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3S3ZL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.