Deep Sea Perch

Nemadactylus macropterus

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth48–148 m
Water temperature11–21 °C
Best monthsApril
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Nemadactylus macropterus, the tarakihi, jackass morwong or deep sea perch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. It is found in the south western Pacific Ocean, in Australia and New Zealand. Although there are records from the southern Indian Ocean and southwestern Atlantic, these may be due to misidentifications of similar species.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Nemadactylus macropterus”, 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: 248 records
February: 102 records
March: 53 records
April: 1,414 records
May: 163 records
June: 42 records
July: 71 records
August: 392 records
September: 131 records
October: 127 records
November: 299 records
December: 242 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 48–148 m · Deepest record: 710 m

0–10 m: 39 records
10–20 m: 104 records
20–30 m: 251 records
30–40 m: 454 records
40–50 m: 972 records
50–60 m: 1,905 records
60–70 m: 4,429 records
70–80 m: 2,728 records
80–90 m: 627 records
90–100 m: 442 records
100–110 m: 442 records
110+ m: 4,123 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–21 °C

10–12 °C: 23 records
12–14 °C: 52 records
14–16 °C: 161 records
16–18 °C: 228 records
18–20 °C: 189 records
20–22 °C: 22 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Deep Sea Perch, Hawaiian morwong, jackassfish, Jackass Fish, Jackass Morwong, Morwong, Mowi, Mowie, Sea Bream, Silver Perch, Squeeker Perch, Tarakihi, Terakihi

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: タキヒラ

Other scientific names: Cheilodactylus macropterus, Cichla macroptera, Dactylopagrus macropterus

Similar species

morwong
Nemadactylus douglasii
Blue Morwong
Nemadactylus valenciennesi
Five fingers
Nemadactylus monodactylus
Banded Morwong
Chirodactylus spectabilis
Black Butterfish
Dactylophora nigricans
Crested Morwong
Goniistius vestitus

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).
36,157 open-data records from 1898 to 2022.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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