Lampris zatima
Appearance
Lampris zatima Temporal range: Late Miocene
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Family: | Lampridae
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Genus: | Retzius, 1799
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Species: | †L. zatima (Jordan & Gilbert, 1920)
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Lampris zatima is the oldest known opah of the genus Lampris, from the Late Miocene of Southern California[1] (the giant opah of the genus Megalampris, of Late Oligocene New Zealand, is older). Its fossil record is rather poor, known primarily from isolated vertebral columns, and a few headless specimens.[2] Alive, it is estimated to have been around 20 to 30 centimeters long.
Mistakenly, it was later re-described as a surfperch, Dascles dassurus.[3]
References