Bulleye

Cookeolus japonicus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth47–139 m
Water temperature11–29 °C
Best monthsAugust, September, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Cookeolus japonicus is a species of fish in the family Priacanthidae, the bigeyes and catalufas. It is the only extant species of Cookeolus, except for C. spinolacrymatus, an extinct Late Pliocene fish known from a fossil specimen collected in Okinawa, Japan.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cookeolus japonicus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 65 records
February: 15 records
March: 37 records
April: 65 records
May: 35 records
June: 53 records
July: 148 records
August: 186 records
September: 201 records
October: 305 records
November: 30 records
December: 86 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 47–139 m · Deepest record: 635 m

10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 11 records
30–40 m: 22 records
40–50 m: 139 records
50–60 m: 120 records
60–70 m: 120 records
70–80 m: 341 records
80–90 m: 126 records
90–100 m: 69 records
100–110 m: 24 records
110–120 m: 10 records
120+ m: 161 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C

10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 4 records
16–18 °C: 4 records
18–20 °C: 41 records
20–22 °C: 69 records
22–24 °C: 45 records
24–26 °C: 16 records
26–28 °C: 579 records
28–30 °C: 7 records

Names and classification

English: Bulleye, Longfinned bullseye, Bigeye, Big-fin Bigeye, bulleye, Deepwater Bullseye, Longfin Bigeye, Longfin Bulleye, Long-finned Big-eye, Long-finned Bigeye, longfinned bullseye, Long-finned Bullseye, Red Big Eye

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: Catalufa, catalufa aleta larga, Catalufa de Aleta Larga
French: Beauclaire longue aile
Japanese: Chikame-kintoki, Chikamekintoki, チカメキントキ
Korean: 뿔돔
Simplified Chinese: 嚴公仔, 日本牛目鯛, 日本紅目大眼鯛, 紅目鰱

Other scientific names: Priacanthus alticlarens, Priacanthus japonicus, Priacanthus macropterus, Priacanthus macropus, Priacanthus supraarmatus, Priacanthus velabundus

Similar species

Goggle-eye
Priacanthus hamrur
Purplespot Bigeye
Priacanthus tayenus
Glasseye
Heteropriacanthus cruentatus
Red bigeye
Priacanthus macracanthus
Silver big-eye
Priacanthus blochii
Arrow bulleye
Priacanthus sagittarius

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,475 open-data records from 1829 to 2025.
Species data updated November 1, 2026.

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