Skilfish (Erilepis zonifer) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–680 m.
Scientific name: Erilepis zonifer · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 183 cm
The skilfish is an anoplopomatid whose adults inhabit deep rocky bottoms offshore, while juveniles are associated with drifting seaweed. It is recorded from the surface down to 680 m. Maximum length is about 183 cm total length, and it can live 12 years. It is a commercial species, a gamefish and a public aquarium fish. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 85 of 100 and resilience low; no IUCN assessment is recorded for it.
It is one of only two species in the family Anoplopomatidae and the sole member of the genus Erilepis, and although it is sometimes called black cod it has no relation to the true cods of the family Gadidae. Young fish display striking white blotches that give way to dark grey with maturity, the bright markings becoming duller and less visible as the fish grows, much as a tiger shark's stripes fade. It is large and bulky and resembles the wreckfish of the family Polyprionidae, and the groupers and sea bass of the family Serranidae, though it is related to neither. It can weigh up to 91 kg. The body is dark with almost black fins, large blue eyes and a cavernous, grouper-like mouth, and the strong caudal fin is as tall as the head or taller. It preys on a wide range of bony fishes — among them eels, capelin, Pacific cod, pollock, candlefish, herring, mackerel and mullets — as well as cephalopods such as squid and octopus and crustaceans such as shrimp and small crabs, and it may also take jellyfish and the leptocephalus larvae of eels; one dissected specimen had a stomach full of rockfish spines.
Back to home · United States · Species library