Japanese butterfish

Open encyclopedia reference

The Pacific rudderfish (Psenopsis anomala) is a marine fish also known by such names as Japanese butterfish, melon seed, wart perch, ibodai (Japanese name, イボダイ) or simply but ambiguously as butterfish. This fish, which can grow to 30 cm (12 in) TL, is found in the Western Pacific, near Japan, in the Taiwan Strait and in the East China Sea. The Japanese butterfish prefers tropical waters: around 42°N–19°N. It has been found in the waters near Hong Kong. Generally, they inhabit the epipelagic layer to 370 m (1213 ft). Adults are mainly bottom-dwelling, but migrate upward at night in search of food. The Japanese butterfish has a compressed body, somewhat oval-shaped, and is whitish to grayish in colour; in the young fish, the colour is darker: a pale brown or blackish brown. Some other features of this fish are a robust snout, a relatively small mouth, and the upper jaw extending to below the anterior margin of the eye. The fish's teeth are small, conical, and incisor-like.

Wikipedia contributors, Pacific rudderfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:41:04.804466+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Psenopsis anomala (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)

Name authority

(Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)

Common name

Japanese butterfish

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Scombriformes

Family

Centrolophidae

Genus

Psenopsis

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. orderScombriformes
11. familyCentrolophidae Bonaparte, 1846
12. genusPsenopsis Gill, 1862
13. speciesPsenopsis anomala (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 27 records assigned to Centrolophidae.

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. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=277902 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:4NGDL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.