Order Lampriformes(Velifers, tube-eyes and ribbonfishes) Family Veliferidae(Velifers) Sailfin velifer Velifer hypselopterus(Bleeker, 1879) Max length/40.0 cm TL Korean name/jeom-mae-ga-ri(점매가리) Japanese name/Kusa-aji(쿠사 아지) Chinese name/旗月鱼(기월어) 또는 草鲹(초소) D/spines 1-2, soft rays 33-34. A/spines 0, soft rays 24-25. P1/15-16. LLp(측선비늘)/70~72. Branchiostegal rays(새파)/15~16. Vert(척추골)/33
Distribution; Indo-West Pacific/southeastern Korea, southern Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia, the Arafura Sea, India, northwestern Australia, South Africa, southern Madagascar. General; Benthic life style. Lives in rather deep waters of less than 110 m. Body deep, strongly compressed. Peduncle narrow. Eye moderately large. Mouth small and pointed, teeth absent on both jaws. Lower jaw protruded ahead of upper jaw. Posterior end of upper jaw reaches slightly in front of the anterior edge of the eye. Upper jaw highly protrusible.
Anterior rays of dorsal anal fin retractable in a thick, scaly sheath of skin located at base of fins. Body covered with deciduous cycloid scales. Lateral line almost straight. Dorsal and anal fin single, shaped like large fans, length of soft rays and bases long, margins slightly rounded. The first 2 rays of dorsal fin are small spines. Caudal fin forked.
Body ground color is pale grayish yellow green. With 9 dark greenish brown vertical stripes over the body, 7 from origin of dorsal fin to caudal fin base, one on head that passing through the eye vertically and one on anterior snout. The ground color of dorsal and anal fin is blue, and several dark yellow-green stripes run parallel to fin's fan shape, 10 stripes on the dorsal fin and about 7 stripes on anal fin. Also, on caudal fin, three dark yellow-green stripes arranged diagonally on upper and lower lobe respectively. With a distinctly black, large round spot on upper dorsal side just below dorsal fin origin. Sometimes this mark is not clearly visible, so some image depictions are described as if this species absent in black spot.
There are two genera in family Veliferidae, and only one species in each genus. They are Velifer hypselopterus(Sailfin velifer) and Metaveifer multiradiatus(Spinyfin velifer). Sailfin velifer is of minor importance in commercial fisheries. It is bycatched by low-level trawling.
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