{{Short description|Species of ray-finned fish}} {{Speciesbox | name = Imperial blackfish | image = Schedophilus ovalis.jpg | taxon = Schedophilus ovalis | authority = (G. Cuvier, 1833) | synonyms = *''Centrolophus ovalis'' <small>Cuvier, 1833</small> *''Mupus ovalis'' <small>(Cuvier, 1833)</small> *''Centrolophus crassus'' <small>Cuvier, 1833</small> *''Leirus bennettii'' <small>Lowe, 1834</small> *''Crius berthelotii'' <small>Valenciennes, 1839</small> *''Mupus imperialis'' <small>Cocco, 1840</small> *''Centrolophus porosissimus'' <small>Canestrini, 186</small>4 *''Centrolophus rotundicauda'' <small>Costa, 1866</small> *''Schedophilus botteri'' <small>Steindachner, 1868</small> *''Centrolophus corcyrensis'' <small>Kolombatović, 1902</small> *''Eucrotus ventralis'' <small>Bean, 1912</small> }}
The '''imperial blackfish''', ''Schedophilus ovalis'', is a medusafish of the family Centrolophidae found in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, and occasionally in the western Atlantic (Bermuda). It occurs at depths of between 70 and 700 m.<ref name=FishBase/> In its juvenile stage, it is often found finding shelter amongst the tentacles of floating jellyfish, including the Portuguese man o' war.<ref name=FishBase/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Honeyborne |first1=James |author2=Mark Brownlow |name-list-style=amp |title=Blue Planet II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJk0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT293|date=2017|publisher=Ebury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4735-3007-2|page=293}}</ref> It grows to {{convert|100|cm|abbr=on}} total length.<ref name=FishBase/>
== Distribution == The Imperial Blackfish was first discovered in the Aegean Sea in 2009.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Corsini-Foka |first1=Maria |last2=Frantzis |first2=Alexandros |date=2009-06-01 |title=First documented record of imperial blackfish, Schedophilus ovalis (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Centrolophidae), in the Aegean Greek waters |url=https://aiep.pensoft.net/article/26086/ |journal=Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=47–49 |doi=10.3750/AIP2009.39.1.09|doi-access=free }}</ref> It had previously been discovered in the waters around northern Spain, the Bay of Biscay, Portugal, the waters near northwestern France, and the North Sea. In December 2001, it was first discovered in Irish waters near the Blasket Islands off the coast of County Kerry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Quigley |first1=D. T. G. |last2=Flannery |first2=K. |date=2004 |title=First Record of the Imperial Blackfish Schedophilus ovalis (Cuvier, 1833) from Irish Waters, Together with a Review of NE Atlantic Records |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25536552 |journal=The Irish Naturalists' Journal |volume=27 |issue=10 |pages=393–395 |jstor=25536552 |issn=0021-1311}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=FishBase>{{FishBase |genus=Schedophilus |species=ovalis |month=December |year=2019}}</ref> }}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1770665}}
Category:Centrolophidae Category:Fish of the East Atlantic Category:Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Category:Fauna of Bermuda imperial blackfish Category:Taxa named by Georges Cuvier
{{Scombroidei-stub}}