Prowfish

Growing to a length of 88 cm (35 in), prowfish have stout, laterally compressed and elongated bodies. They have single, somewhat high dorsal fin running nearly the entire length of the back; it may contain 54–58 pliable spines. The anal fin is also fairly extensive. The tail fin is large, rounded and truncated; the pectoral fins are enlarged and pelvic fins are conspicuously absent. The mouth is slightly upturned with small, closely set, sharp teeth confined to the jaws. The head is convex, ending in a projecting snout. This explains the family name Zaproridae; from the Greek za, an intensifier, and prora meaning "prow". The species name silneus is a reference to Silenus, a figure in Greek mythology. The distinctive head of the prowfish also features a number of sensory pores made all the more obvious by fringes of blue or white. Prowfish have small ctenoid scales and a variable coloration; typically, they are bluish-grey to olive brown with small dark spots, grading to lighter shades ventrally. The lateral line and swim bladder are absent.

Prowfish range from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska west to Kamchatka, Russia; from Navarin Canyon in the Bering Sea south to Hokkaidō, Japan and Monterey, California. An otherwise little-known species, prowfish are important to subsistence fisheries in remote regions.