The skilfish (''Erilepis zonifer'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, one of two species belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Anoplopomatidae Anoplopomatidae, the sablefishes, are a small family of ray-finned fishes classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. This family is the only family in the monotypic superfamily Anoplopomatoidea. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Oce ...

and the only species in the genus ''Erilepis''. It is also known as black cod, though they have no relation to cod, family

Gadidae The Gadidae are a family of marine fish, included in the order Gadiformes, known as the cods, codfishes, or true cods. It contains several commercially important fishes, including the cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. Most gadid species are ...

, and sable fish or sablefish, which is a name commonly used for other species in the family

. Found on deep rocky bottoms in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

at depths of up to 440 metres, they can reach up to 1.83 metres in length and weigh up to 91 kilograms. Young fish display striking white blotches on their body, however their colour changes to dark grey with maturity, and the bright markings become duller and less visible as they grow, similar to the

Tiger shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of requiem shark and the last extant member of the family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, capable of attaining a length over . Populations are found in many tropical and tempera ...

's stripes.

Description

Skilfish are large and bulky fish, which bear a resemblance to the wreckfish in the family

Polyprionid The wreckfish are a family, Polyprionidae in the suborder Percoidei of the order Perciformes. They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their common name). Their scientifi ...

, and the groupers or sea bass in the family

Serranidae The Serranidae are a large family of fishes belonging to the order Perciformes. The family contains about 450 species in 65 genera, including the sea basses and the groupers (subfamily Epinephelinae). Although many species are small, in some case ...

, although skilfish are not related to any of those families. They are very long-lived fish, with some caught specimens being over 90 years old. Skilfish have a dark colored body, with almost black fins, and large, blue eyes above a projectile, cavernous grouper-like mouth. They also have strong caudal fins, which are as tall or taller than the fish's head. Skilfish can grow to a length of 1.83 m, and a weight of 91kg.

Biology

Skilfish are the predators of a large number of bony fishes, such as

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

capelin The capelin or caplin (''Mallotus villosus'') is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin ...

Pacific cod The Pacific cod (''Gadus macrocephalus)'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Gadidae. It is a bottom-dwelling fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean, mainly on the continental shelf and upper slopes, to depths of about . It can grow ...

pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. ''Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as pollock in North America, Ireland and the United Kingd ...

, candlefish,

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

, mullets,

cephalopods A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, an ...

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

, crustaceans such as shrimp, small crabs, and they may also consume jellyfishes and eel leptocephalus. Rockfish may be also prey, as one dissected specimen had a stomach full of rockfish spines.

References

* * Anoplopomatidae Fish described in 1880 {{Scorpaeniformes-stub