Japanese armorhead

Taxobox
name = Japanese armorhead


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Pentacerotidae
genus = "Pentaceros"
species = "P. japonicus"
binomial = "Pentaceros japonicus"
binomial_authority = Döderlein, 1883

The Japanese armorhead or Japanese boarfish, "Pentaceros japonicus", is an armorhead of the genus "Pentaceros", found around Japan, southern Australia, and the North Island of New Zealand, at depths of between 200 and 650 m on the continental shelf. Its length is between 15 and 25 cm.

The Japanese armorhead has the strong bony head, pointed snout and deep laterally compressed body of the other boarfishes, but also greatly thickened strong sharp spines on the dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins. All these spines, and the head bones, have a patterning of raised ridges on them.

Colour is a uniform yellow, sometimes tinged with olive, with a pale central area on each scale.

They are a rare fish and little else is known about them.

References

*
*
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8