Mene

Mene maculata on offer in a supermarket in the Philippines.

• Europe
• South America

The moon perch (Transmission ) are an extinct until a kind of fish genus and family. You are fossil known since the Paleocene. The oldest type is Mene purdyi from Peru. In the fossil site of Monte Bolca near Verona in Italy, they found several fossil species from the lower Eocene.

Today there is only one living species, Mene maculata, who lives in the Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa up to southern Japan, the coast of northeastern Australia. The fish living in coastal areas over the continental shelf and in the vicinity of large islands at depths of 50 to 200 meters. They also go into the brackish waters of estuaries. Mene maculata feeds on bottom-dwelling invertebrate animals. The 30 inches long expectant fish are fished commercially and are fresh or dried on the market.

Features

Moon grouper have a disk shape ( μήνη "moon " ) and are laterally flattened, with a strong, deep projecting arched chest and abdominal region. The pelvic fins are long and thread-like in adult fish. The anal fin has no hard jets and is supported 30-33 soft rays. It extends from the neck of the pelvic fin to the caudal fin root, but is very low. The caudal fin is deeply forked, the dorsal fin is supported 43-45 soft rays and is only low.

System

The systematic position of the moon perch has long been uncertain. She has already been asked in their own order, Meniformes and near the Tetraodontiformes ( which are then considered Präpercomorphe ) and the Beryciformes. Later they presented them to the order Perciformes. Betancur -R. and staff they arranged to Carangimorpharia in their published in spring 2013 revision of the classification of bony fish.