Common names: butterfish (English), palometa (Espanol)
Peprilus simillimus (Ayres, 1860)
Pacific butterfish, Pacific pompano
Body highly compressed, an elongate oval; shallow to moderately deep body (depth 37-52% of SL); eye large, surrounded by a fatty right; snout ~ eye length or longer, mouth small, oblique, ends before or under front of eye; jaw teeth compressed, 3-pointed, in 1 row, no teeth on roof of mouth; gill rakers 23-27; dorsal and anal fins long based, front lobes only slightly raised in a blunt point, anal much lower than dorsal; dorsal rays III, 45 (41-48); anal rays II, 40 (35-44); no pelvic fins but a small spine projecting from pelvis; pectorals long and pointed, 19-23, usually 21 rays; tail fin deeply forked, stiff; scales very small, smooth, very easily shed; dorsal and anal fins covered with scales; lateral line high, follows upper body profile, almost complete; 30-31 vertebrae.
Iridescent blue-green above, silvery below.
Size: attains 36cm.
Inhabits sand bottoms of exposed coasts.
Depth: 9-91 m.
British Columbia to southern Baja and the west and northeast of the Gulf of California.
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