Opah Facts: The Moon Fish 🌙🐟 | Animal Fact Files

The opah is currently known as a warm-blooded fish! It is also known as the moon fish. These fish pump their pectoral fins to heat their bodies and, unlike tunas who can also raise their body temperature, this heat spreads throughout their bodies. Opah can raise their body temperate to a handful of degrees higher than the surrounding water temperature! These relatively rare fish are believed to live in solitude, though they may school with other fish like tunas and billfish. There are a handful of described opah species, though more information could see this change in the future! We hope you learned some interesting opah facts in today's episode of Animal Fact Files!

Scientific Name: Genus - Lampris
Range: tropical and temperate ocean waters worldwide
Size: average 3 feet (91cm) in length and 100 pounds (45kg) in weight
Diet: fish, crustaceans, and mostly squid
Lifespan: average estimate about 5 years

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Image and Video Credits:
Lou Stejskal - https://www.flickr.com/photos/6331160...
Apokryltaros - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Carlvus - https://freesound.org/people/Carlvus/... ; https://freesound.org/people/Carlvus/...
Tom Elliott - https://vimeo.com/280019299
Diver Jackie - https://vimeo.com/33471733
Greenfins - https://vimeo.com/209119060

Research Credits:
https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbea...
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/scien...
https://www.fishbase.de/summary/Lampr...
https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home...
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/specie...
https://www.google.com/books/edition/...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
https://core.ac.uk/reader/144564920
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/mep...
https://link.springer.com/article/10....
https://science.sciencemag.org/conten...
   • Meet The Opah, The First Known Warm-B...  
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRp...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opah#ci...

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