Butterfly kingfish

The butterfly kingfish (Gasterochisma melampus) is an ocean-dwelling ray-finnedbony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae – a family which it shares with the tunas, mackerels, Spanish mackerels, and bonitos. It, however, represents a lineage distinct from all other scombrids and has therefore been placed in its own genusGasterochisma and subfamilyGasterochismatinae.

Although taxonomists and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have accepted the name "butterfly kingfish", this fish has had many common names, including big-scaled mackerel, bigscale mackerel, butterfly mackerel, butterfly tuna, scaled tunny, scaly tuna, and others. In 1993, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave approval for this fish to be marketed simply as "mackerel".