dragon poacher
Percis japonica (Pallas, 1769)
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 dragon poacher (Percis japonica) is a fish in the family Agonidae. It was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1769, originally under the genus Cottus. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling fish which is known from the northern Pacific Ocean, including the Sea of Japan (from which its species epithet is derived), the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Sea. It dwells at a depth range of 19 to 750 metres (62 to 2,461 ft), and inhabits gravel, sand and mud sediments. Males can reach a maximum total length of 42 centimetres (17 in).
The dragon poacher's diet consists of benthic crustaceans including shrimp, crabs, amphipods, as well as mysids, oligochaetes, and polychaetes.
Wikipedia contributors, Dragon poacher; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:10:17.817930+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Percis japonica (Pallas, 1769)
- Name authority
- (Pallas, 1769)
- Common name
- dragon poacher
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Agonidae
- Genus
- Percis
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderCottoidei
- familyAgonidae Swainson, 1839
- subfamilyHypsagoninae Gill, 1861
- genusPercis Scopoli, 1777
- speciesPercis japonica (Pallas, 1769)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Percis japonicus (Pallas, 1769) (Pallas, 1769) | synonym |
| Agonus curillicus Tilesius, 1813 Tilesius, 1813 | synonym |
| Aspidophorus lisiza Lacepède, 1801 Lacepède, 1801 | synonym |
| Aspidophorus superciliosus Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier, 1829 | synonym |
| Agonus stegophthalmus Tilesius, 1813 Tilesius, 1813 | synonym |
| Cottus japonicus Pallas, 1769 Pallas, 1769 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=254389 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:6V44S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.