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Atlantic pomfret

Brama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Open encyclopedia reference

The Atlantic pomfret (Brama brama), also known as Ray's bream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a pomfret of the family Bramidae. It is found in the Atlantic, Indian, and South Pacific Oceans, at depths down to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

Its length is between 40 and 100 cm (16 and 39 in). In South Africa, where it is a common bycatch of the hake fishery, it is generally known and sold as "angelfish", although it is not a true marine angelfish.

The Atlantic pomfret has very significant migration patterns which greatly depend on the temperature of intermediate waters, but are also affected by secondary reactions from density dependence and the climatic conditions of the surface. Although the species was first recorded in Irish waters in 1843, it was still regarded as scarce up until the late 1950s, but between the 1960s and 1970s large numbers were recorded.

Wikipedia contributors, Atlantic pomfret; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:59:19.068256+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Brama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Name authority
(Bonnaterre, 1788)
Common name
Atlantic pomfret
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Scombriformes
Family
Bramidae
Genus
Brama
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. familyBramidae Bonaparte, 1831
  12. genusBrama Bloch & Schneider, 1801
  13. speciesBrama brama (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Close classified relatives

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

SpeciesClassificationSource status
lowfin pomfretBrama dussumieri Cuvier, 1831BramidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Brama australis Valenciennes, 1838BramidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
bigtooth pomfretBrama orcini Cuvier, 1831BramidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 13 records assigned to Bramidae.

Names & synonyms

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

Recorded nameSource status
Sparus brama Bonnaterre, 1788 Bonnaterre, 1788synonym
Sparus raji (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)synonym
Toxotes squamosus Hutton, 1875 Hutton, 1875synonym
Brama raji Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym
Brama raii Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym
Brama rayi Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym
Brama marina Fleming, 1828 Fleming, 1828synonym
Brama squamosa (Hutton, 1875) (Hutton, 1875)synonym
Lepidotus catalonicus Asso y del Rio, 1801 Asso y del Rio, 1801synonym
Lepidotus chilensis (Guichenot, 1848) (Guichenot, 1848)synonym
Lepodus saragus Rafinesque, 1810 Rafinesque, 1810synonym
Lepodus squamosus (Hutton, 1875) (Hutton, 1875)synonym
Sparus castaneola Lacepède, 1802 Lacepède, 1802synonym
Sparus niger Turton, 1804 Turton, 1804ambiguous synonym
Brama pinnasquamata Couch, 1849 Couch, 1849synonym
Sparus dentatus Berkenhout, 1789 Berkenhout, 1789synonym
Sparus raii Bloch, 1791 Bloch, 1791synonym
Chaetodon umbratus Cabrera, Pérez & Haenseler, 1857 Cabrera, Pérez & Haenseler, 1857synonym

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=126783 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:693C2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.